Monday, September 26, 2011

Making Sense of Murder Rates

The FBI released its annual report on crime in America.  Homicide is down 4.8 percent.  There were 14,748 murders nationwide in 2010.  That number is down considerably within just the last decade and about 651 less than 2009.  However, what is also down in the clearance rate or the number of homicides which are solved.

According to the FBI, only 64.8 percent of homicides were cleared in 2010.  That means that 5,997 murders in 2010 remain unsolved.  Right now in America there are nearly 6,000 killers, just from 2010, who are walking the street.

Homicide statistics can be difficult to analyze.  Pennsylvania and Ohio are neighboring states with similar demographics and very dissimilar homicide figures.  Ohio had 57 less murders in 2010, a decrease of 9.7 percent.  Pennsylvania had only 7 less murders in 2010 for a decrease of only 1.1 percent.

To read more: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2010/crime-in-the-u.s.-2010/10Clearance.gif

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2010/crime-in-the-u.s.-2010/tables/10tbl04.xls

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