As crime rates surge in the United States, nearly half of all murders are left unsolved, according to FBI data analyzed separately by two non-profit organizations, the Marshall Project and the Murder Accountability Project.
Homicide “clearance rates,” the rate at which murders were solved, dropped from 71% in 1980 to an all-time low of approximately 50% in 2020, based on the most recent numbers released by the FBI. The agency will not release 2021 data until later this year.
From 2019 to 2020, law enforcement solved 1,200 more homicides than the previous year; however, at that same time, homicides increased by 30%. Therefore, approximately one of every two homicide cases was considered solved.
During that same period, national clearance rates for rape were 30%, assault 47%, and robbery 27%. Burglaries, thefts, and arsons had the lowest clearance rates, between 14-21%.
