Why do some crimes go unsolved

Law enforcement agencies may also clear a crime by exceptional means such as when an identified offender is killed during apprehension or commits suicide. Cold Case Homicide Statistics. Homicides and Clearance Rates from By Thomas Hargrove Nearly , cases of homicide and non-negligent manslaughter went unsolved from to , according to Scripps Howard News Service calculations based upon homicide estimates provided by the FBI.

And these things work when people are paying close attention. They look and say, "Oh, hey, that that looks like someone I know. And that is the rare case in many of these circumstances. Like, is it rare for a police department to have a cold case unit to have the resources to fund that and put some of its, as you say, better detectives within it?

And how often do they, do they get anywhere? GOULD: So it's not rare, but it does take a department that has the staffing to be able to do it and the resources to be able to do it.

I have great admiration for the detectives in these units that, units, while at the same time feeling bad for them because they don't often close these cases. Those cases are in the unit for a reason.

They're incredibly difficult to figure out what's going on because there isn't enough evidence. If there were, they would have solved the case by now. So you need something new to come up. You need the public to pay attention to it. You need something to be able to show people that they may know something or there needs to be some new evidence that comes to light.

That doesn't happen very often. Jon, thank you so much for coming on The Show. Your contact info We'll be in touch if we look into your question. Skip to main content. By Lauren Gilger. Published: Monday, August 17, - pm. Download mp3 9. Politics Science The Show. Arizona Science Desk. About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world.

It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. Newsletters Donate My Account. Research Topics. Share this link:. Federal criminal prosecutions fall to lowest level in nearly two decades. What we know about the increase in U.