Crime & Safety
Here’s Where Homicides Go Unsolved In Minneapolis
An analysis by The Washington Post identified two zones in the state where homicide arrest rates are low.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — More than half of the homicides in America’s 50 largest cities went unsolved over the past 10 years, according to data compiled by The Washington Post. The Post’s analysis of 52,000 criminal homicides identified zones within cities where there were more than eight homicides but the arrest rate was less than 30 percent.
In Minneapolis, 51 percent of homicides tracked over the past decade went unsolved, according to the analysis.
According to the Post’s data, there were 366 homicides in Minneapolis between 2007 and 2016 and 49 percent of the 366 homicides in Minneapolis resulted in an arrest.
Find out what's happening in Southwest Minneapolisfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The Post found Minneapolis has one zone with a high concentration of homicides and low arrest rates. The zone covers the portions of the Willard-Hay and Near North neighborhoods in North Minneapolis.
A map compiled by The Post also showed areas where fewer than one in three homicides resulted in an arrest. Nationally, the overall average arrest rate for these areas was 14 percent.
Find out what's happening in Southwest Minneapolisfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
While the majority of homicide victims in Minneapolis were black, the arrest rates were highest in cases where the victims were white, according to the Post’s findings.
That was consistent with the trend identified by the Post nationally. The Post found that in 44 of the 47 cities where a victim’s race was reliably recorded, a white victim’s homicide resulted in an arrest more often than a minority victim’s homicide.
Other findings from the Post’s analysis include:
- 34 of the 50 cities analyzed have a lower homicide arrest rate now compared to a decade ago
- Killings have increased in 17 cities over the past decade and police now make fewer arrests in these cities
- An arrest was made in 63 percent of homicides of white victims compared with 48 percent of Latino victims and 46 percent of black victims
- Almost all the low-arrest zones are home primarily to low-income black residents
Image via Shutterstock / Couperfield
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.