Ramsey County Attorney John Choi is weighing in on juvenile crime in St. Paul amid a string of crimes being committed by minors in Minneapolis.
Choi says for kids being arrested in areas like St. Paul there is different underlying issue that keeps landing them back in police custody.
“I think the really big issue as it relates to crime, are the kids that have completely disappeared from school,” says Choi. “And oftentimes I hear from police, they’ll question a young person who they have arrested, and they might ask the question of ‘where do you go to school?’ And oftentimes the response is ‘I don’t go to school.'”
According to new data from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, so far in 2024 only six juveniles have been arrested in Ramsey County for motor vehicle thefts. Youth weapons violations are also down 40%.
It’s a far different story in Hennepin County. So far in 2024, there have been 475 cases of vehicle theft. More than half of those were committed by juveniles (those include pending cases), a number confirmed to WCCO by Hennepin County.