In the 1960s, 90% of murders were solved. That fell to 75% in 1980, and 60% in 2000. In the year of Black Lives Matter, the homicide clearance rate fell so low that it became a ‘coin flip’.
The media reported that only 50% of murders were being solved. What was less reported was that this mainly reflected a drop in solving black murders. Homicide clearance rates for white people have actually improved since the 1980s and reached a high during the Obama administration even as black homicide clearance rates dropped catastrophically.
In the 70s, 80% of the murders of black people were solved. Under Obama, only 60% were.
As the Freedom Center had previously revealed in its investigative reporting, Black Lives Matter, its allied police defunding, decarceration and decriminalization movement helped lead to a nearly 30% surge in murders with 2,244 more black people being murdered.
Despite being assaulted in the streets, defamed in the media and lynched in the courts, police tried to keep doing their jobs, but crime was rising so fast that it was impossible to keep up.
Even the pro-crime Marshall Project noted that, “from 2019 to 2020, police across the country solved 1,200 more murders, a 14% increase. But murders rose twice as quickly — by 30%.”
And solving murders was a thankless job that put police careers and lives at stake.
R&I – TxPAT
