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Philanthropists Push Police Searches of DNA Databases
- Bostonian 5y agoThe rate at which murder cases are being solved, the "clearance rate", has fallen drastically. To deter murder and do justice, it is important to raise it. As Murders Spiked, Police Solved About Half in 2020. The U.S. homicide clearance rate is at a historic low. Here’s what that means. https://www.themarshallproject.org/2022/01/12/as-murders-spiked-police-solved-about-half-in-2020 https://www.themarshallproject.org/2022/01/12/as-murders-spi... For homicide detectives, 2020 brought good news and bad news. On the one hand, police across the nation solved more murders — in absolute numbers — than in any year since 1997, according to data reported to the FBI. On the other hand, because new homicides increased sharply, the reported rate at which killings were solved, known as the “clearance rate,” declined to a little below 50%.The lower clearance rate in 2020 was an extension of a long, steady drop since the early 1980s, when police cleared about 70% of all homicides, and a decline that experts say was exacerbated by the pandemic. (The FBI won’t release 2021 numbers until later this year.)