Defining homicide in the Capital City

Opinion editor's note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

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When 22-year-old Alex Becker was shot and killed during a robbery while walking to his St. Paul home in late December, his death seemingly marked the city's 40th homicide of 2022 — surpassing the record of 38 set the previous year.

But it turns out that won't be record-setting when the city's Police Department reports crime statistics to the state and federal government. That's due to a change in how homicide is defined and reported under new federal standards. St. Paul police say under the new system, at least four of the 40 cases were possible instances of self-defense, therefore not technically criminal acts. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported the 2022 change earlier this month.

In 2021, the FBI's National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) became the national standard for law enforcement crime data reporting in the U.S. Now all law enforcement agencies in Minnesota use the system's standards to measure and report crime.

Yet regardless of how they are defined, the increase in violent deaths in St. Paul — mostly the result of gunfire — remains disturbing. The number of violent deaths remains well above the rates in St. Paul prior to 2019, when the city averaged 16 homicides a year over the previous two decades.

According to city police, at least eight of the 2022 deaths were the result of alleged incidents of domestic abuse or disputes; seven people died in three incidents; 33 were killed in shootings, and most involved people who knew each other. St. Paul police report a rate higher than the state average for solving homicides, with a clearance rate of about 80% for 2022.

Department spokesman Sgt. Mike Ernster told an editorial writer that the official St. Paul crime figures will be reported in the next few weeks and that rates are down in some categories. He said the department must fall in line with NIBRS reporting requirements, meaning that four of what had been considered homicides could be reclassified as self-defense and therefore not homicides/murders.

The revised NIBRS standards wisely call for the collection of more detailed data about crime, including demographic information about victims, offenders and those arrested, as well as the types of weapons used, if any. The new standards will bring more uniformity to the process and make comparison data more accurate.

In an interview with an editorial writer, Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said that uniformity is an important benefit of reporting changes. He said his office makes the self-defense distinction in deciding whether to press charges.

Choi added that although homicide numbers draw a lot of attention, we should pay as much attention to the many gunshot victims who survive and those who are otherwise injured in violent incidents.

"Thirty-six or 40 — it's still too many," he said. "We have to look at, what do we do to reduce those killed as well as those who are shot during all the gunfire."