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Entries Tagged as 'Homicide Facts'

I See Cold Cases

June 20th, 2006 · Comments Off on I See Cold Cases

When I look through the FBI’s Preliminary Crime Reports for 2005, I see it in terms of how many murders will not be solved. I always talk about New York, so let’s look at the rest of America. Good God, Texas is a murderous state (no offense, Texas). Dallas has had 676 murders in the […]

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Tags: Homicide Facts

Oldest Unsolved Murders

April 24th, 2006 · 3 Comments

When my book went to press, 25,062 murders had been committed since 1985. Roughly a third of those murders are still unsolved. (I say roughly, because that figure is a moving target.) For better or worse, I’m curious about the oldest unsolved murders. The NYPD’s Central Records Division has a warehouse in Brooklyn where they […]

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Tags: Homicide Facts · Old Murder Cases

Declining Clearance Rates – Part 2

April 4th, 2006 · Comments Off on Declining Clearance Rates – Part 2

The first thing to look for is an increase in the kinds of murders that are harder to solve, such as: – Murders involving firearms. When someone shoots someone they don’t necessarily get close enough to leave DNA evidence. – Murders without witnesses or uncooperative witnesses. For instance, cases involving organized crime or gangs. – […]

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Tags: Homicide Facts

Declining Clearance Rates – Part 1

March 27th, 2006 · Comments Off on Declining Clearance Rates – Part 1

Although clearance rates went up a teeny, tiny bit nationally, I’m still curious why they have been generally declining over the years. It was such a huge shock to me to discover while I was writing the book that clearance rates have, in fact, been slowly going down. What really amazed me was, the decline […]

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Tags: Homicide Facts