Crime in Minnesota


Crime in Minnesota encompasses a wide range of unlawful activities that occur within the state, regulated by both state and federal laws. While crime rates in Minnesota are generally below the national average, certain areas and types of crime have garnered public attention.

Notable incidents

The historical development of crime in Minnesota has been influenced by factors including immigration patterns, economic fluctuations, and social changes. During the early 20th century, organized crime, primarily related to prohibition, was a notable issue. Over the decades, the types and rates of crime have evolved.

The Gangster Era

During the Great Depression, Minnesota gained notoriety as a haven for gangsters. Among the most infamous were Ma Barker and her son Fred Barker, along with Alvin Karpis, who were part of the Barker-Karpis gang. They were responsible for a series of robberies, kidnappings, and murders. In 1933, they kidnapped William Hamm, a millionaire brewer, and secured a ransom for his release.

Wetterling case

One of the most high-profile cases was the kidnapping and murder of 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling in 1989. Wetterling's disappearance remained unsolved for nearly 27 years, with his remains finally discovered in 2016. The case had a profound impact on Minnesota and the entire nation, leading to the establishment of the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act, requiring states to implement a sex offender and crimes against children registry.

Minneapolis Police Department controversies

In recent years, the Minneapolis Police Department has been at the center of national attention for instances of police brutality, most notably the murder of George Floyd in 2020. The incident sparked nationwide protests including rioting and led to an ongoing debate on police reform. The event prompted the Minneapolis City Council to consider dismantling the police department, a move that voters rejected in 2021.

Feeding Our Future and other fraud scandals in the 2020s

was a Minnesota nonprofit founded in 2016. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it claimed to distribute many thousands of meals to schoolchildren, but instead stole hundreds of millions of dollars while providing few or no meals at most of its locations. Merrick Garland, attorney general during the Biden administration, called it the country’s largest pandemic relief fraud scheme. The organization stole at least $250 million. The fraudsters spent the money on real estate or on luxury items, and also sent money overseas. One individual, Abdiaziz Farah, used the stolen money to make wire transfers worth more than $1 million to banks in China. Although the state agency responsible for monitoring the school meal program repeatedly tried to cut off funds, the organization was not shut down until FBI raids and federal indictments in 2022. As of late 2025, out of 78 suspects indicted in the fraud, more than 50 had pled guilty. Another seven individuals were found guilty at trial, including the leader of the scheme, Aimee Bock, while many others awaited trial.
Most, though not all, of those charged and convicted in the case were members of Minnesota's Somali American community, whether first-generation immigrants or native-born. Aimee Bock, the leader of Feeding our Future and a white woman, accused state agencies of discrimination against the Somali community in the months before charges were filed. The case led to internal debate and discussion in the Minnesota Somali American community and broader political arena. Several years after the first charges were brought, the Feeding Our Future case was cited by President Donald Trump as a reason to cut off temporary protected status for some Somali refugees in Minnesota.
Amidst ongoing investigation into the Feeding Our Future case, potential fraud was identified and investigated in a number of other state-run social services schemes, including emergency housing, autism therapy for children, home health assistance, and Medicaid. By late 2025, Minnesota had shut down its housing stabilization system and paused payments in 14 Medicaid programs, including autism therapy and others, while launching an audit. One of the charged individuals is accused of paying kickbacks to parents to get their children diagnosed with autism, to enroll them in her own autism center.
The state drew media attention for the set of fraud scandals, with U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson writing that the state had become "a national poster child for public corruption". Thompson claimed in a news conference that half of the $18 billion funding in relevant programs since 2018 may have been stolen, a figure which was disputed by Governor Tim Walz. In response to the investigations, Walz ordered a third-party audit, appointed the first Director of Program Integrity, and paused payments to the 14 programs at risk. State lawmakers, who had been working on the issue legislatively for several years, responded to the national spotlight in varied ways: Rep. Kristin Robbins stated that "most of the fraud is in the Somali community, and some of my best whistleblowers are in the Somali community". On the federal level, House Republicans launched a probe into Walz. In December 2025, FBI director Kash Patel announced that he was sending additional investigators to probe the alleged fraud. On 31 December 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services said it froze all child care payments to Minnesota and demanded state officials "carry out a comprehensive audit of centers".

Timeline of incidents

According to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program, Minnesota's crime rates have generally remained below the national average. However, fluctuations occur year-to-year, and some cities, such as Minneapolis and St. Paul, experience higher crime rates compared to other parts of the state.
In 1990, Minnesota reported a violent crime rate of 291 incidents per 100,000 residents. By 1994, this number peaked at 356 before stabilizing somewhat in the 2000s. However, the rate surged again to 311 by 2021.
Property crime in Minnesota has shown a more consistent trend of reduction. In 1990, the state had a property crime rate of 4,265 per 100,000 residents, which decreased to 2,078 by 2021. This decline is in line with national trends.

Crime rates in Minneapolis

As of 2023, the overall crime rate in Minneapolis, the state's largest city, stands at approximately 5,713 crimes per 100,000 residents. This rate is approximately 138% higher than the state average and 143% higher than the national average. While this number represents a decrease from the peak reached in 2021, it still paints a picture of Minneapolis as a city with significantly higher crime rates than the average American city.
Violent crime statistics present a particularly concerning aspect of the city's crime landscape. Minneapolis's violent crime rate of 1,155 crimes per 100,000 residents is more than three times higher than the state average and nearly twice the national average. From 2008 to 2023, there were a total of 73,702 violent crime reported. This included 783 homicides, 7,376 rapes, 27,841 robberies, 37,702 aggravated assaults, and 12,900 domestic assaults. The homicide rate, while fluctuating year to year, remains persistently higher than the national average, increasing significantly in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd.
While black Americans make up 18 percent of Minneapolis' population, they were 77 percent of the city's homicide victims in 2022. Similarly, in 2020, 61 percent of the victims were African-American. During the same year, there were 189 perpetrators of murder for whom a race was identified. Of that total, 66 percent of offenders were identified as being African-American.
In 2023, there were a total of 72 homicides, 303 carjackings, and 413 gunshot wound victims.
Property crime accounts for roughly 80% of all reported offenses in Minneapolis. This includes burglaries, thefts, and motor vehicle thefts. Similar to violent crime, Minneapolis's property crime rate exceeds both the state and national averages. In 2023, there were 7,868 reported motor vehicle thefts reported, up significantly from the previous 3 year average.
From 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2024, Minneapolis Police made a total of 169,187 stops. About 14% resulted in a citation and 9.5% resulted in a vehicle check. 38.6% of those checked were African American, 25.4% were white, 5.8% were East African, 4.8% were Latino, 3.2% were Native American, 1.4% Asian, 3.3% other, and 15.6% of stops did not report race.
Selected crimes in Minneapolis by year
Type201920202021202220232024
Animal cruelty332221192124
Assault8,9648,9198,5229,4108,9199,760
Burglary3,3603,9712,5462,6112,6172,624
Drug-related crime2,3051,5509641,1441,351978
Homicide5487102877276
Human trafficking33251171411
Motor vehicle theft2,9904,0994,2636,2837,8686,666
Robbery1,3211,8302,2211,7981,4471,599