According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports, in 2004 the national clearance rate was 62.6%. That’s up from 62.4 in 2003%.

However, in an FBI preliminary report, murder was up 2.1% nationally in the first six months of 2005 (with the greatest increase in the midwest, 4.9%). The year before, murder had gone down 5.7% nationally.

Other murder facts (I don’t have where I cut and pasted this from! I don’t know who to give credit, but it’s not me): “The summer months are the most popular month to be murdered. Saturday was the most popular day-of-the-week to be murdered, followed by Friday. Murder rates are higher in the afternoon than in the morning, but are highest at night.”