Crime in 2021: A year of carnage

Now that 2021 has (finally) rolled off the board, we can begin to total up the damage.

St. Paul recorded 38 homicides, a new record for the city in a single calendar year. St. Paul had recorded 34 homicides in 1992 and again just last year. In 2021, the state capital joined at least 15 other cities across the country setting new annual records.

In 1995, Minneapolis set its current annual homicide record at 97. In 2021, the city either tied the all-time record or fell two short of the total. The discrepancy arises in how to count (geographically) two murders included in the state total.

We don’t have a final total for Minneapolis carjackings, yet, but we’ve long-since blown by last year’s record total. In 2020, Minneapolis reported 388 carjackings. As of mid-December 2021, Minneapolis had already seen 610 carjackings with a half month remaining.

The region finished the year strong, with a shooting inside the Mall of America in suburban Bloomington. Two were injured at the megamall shortly before the complex closed late afternoon on New Year’s Eve.

Bloomington is one of five Minneapolis suburbs that have banded together to fight crime. Two representatives of another of the cities are vowing to take the fight to the state legislature in 2022.

State Senator Melisa Franzen and State Rep. Heather Edelson (both Edina Democrats) announced on Twitter yesterday that they would be sponsoring a package of anti-crime legislation when the legislature reconvenes later this month. Here at American Experiment, we will monitor this legislation closely as it moves through the process toward the governor’s desk.