I'm working on my next longform commentary on whether Minnesota, as a state, is in trouble. This scandal below indicates some of what's challenging the state.
More general, though, this gets to the larger point of how our systems (judicial, academic, financial, etc.)--designed for a pre-Internet world--are no longer compatible with today's world.
For example, in the wake of this juror bribery attempt, people in the comments of that post are saying we need to start monitoring jurors' bank accounts--to watch for any potential tampering. Sure, this could theoretically be effective with all the necessary parties on board. But have they never heard of cryptocurrency?
This bribery attempt was caught for a couple of reasons, one being its unsophistication. Done with a payment of a nontraceable cryptocurrency--into a juror's wallet outside the banking system--and no one would know.
How is justice supposed to be impartial when jurors are easily paid off? Or when the process is swayed to the political? Or when the story behind the court case is so massive, fast-spreading, and perhaps controversial, it is impossible to find jurors without bias?
We've long had unfairness in our justice systems due to race and class. Now, these added modern, technologically-enabled threats to a court's integrity challenge the very fabric of the system itself.
The challenge is to rethink judicial/legal infrastructure for the modern world.
The challenge for Minnesota is how we maintain some unity and order when the societal fabric is fraying.