Two separate analyses of data released by the FBI has shown that approximately 50 percent of murders in the US in 2020 went unsolved.
According to the New York Post, "Analyses of FBI data show that 71 percent of homicides were deemed solved in 1980 — dropping to only about 50 percent in 2020, the last time the data were compiled."
No publicly accessible government database exists that counts nationwide homicides and whether they go solved or unsolved. Two separate non-profit organizations, the Murder Accountability Project and the Marshall Project, analyzed the data released by the FBI and reached the same conclusion.
The Marshall Project found "About 1 of every 2 murders was solved," in 2020.
Speaking to the Guardian, the founder of the Murder Accountability Project said, "We’re on the verge of being the first developed nation where the majority of homicides go uncleared."
A clearance rate refers to the rate that homicides were solved and not every law enforcement agency uses the same criteria in determining if the case is cleared or not, although a suspect being arrested, charged, and prosecuted is the most ubiquitous criteria.
According to the Blaze, the FBI adds the criteria of "exceptional means" to clearing a case. In these instances they consider a case cleared if the "suspect died, could not be extradited, or prosecutors chose not to press charges," even if there was enough evidence to do so.
A professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Peter Moskos, told the Marshall Project, "If people criticize the police constantly, it is natural that people would be less willing to talk to police," which would hinder investigations.
On Twitter, Alex Berenson said, "That is a catastrophic failure for decarceration and cashless bail and cannabis legalization and all the other soft-on-crime policies, and the left needs to own it."
Jessica Pizzano of the Survivors of Homicide advocacy group told the Marshall Project, "Is the murderer in my neighborhood? Will I run into them at the grocery store? Or when I’m pumping gas? … These are real fears that families live through."
The Murder Accountability Project chairman Thomas Hargrove said, "The Murder Accountability Project firmly believes declining homicide clearance rates are the result of inadequate allocation of resources — detectives, forensic technicians, crime laboratory capacity, and adequate training of personnel."
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