By the Numbers: Getting Away With Murder

In major American cities, murder cases pile up on the desks of homicide detectives, resulting in half of all homicides going unsolved. Getting away with murder is easier than you think.

55,868

Number of homicides in 55 cities studied over a decade by a team from the Washington Post

50

Percentage of those homicides that resulted in an arrest

1,115

Homicides the study tracked during 11 years in Milwaukee

64

Percentage of Milwaukee homicides that resulted in an arrest

5,534

Homicides the study tracked during 11 years in Chicago

26

Percentage that resulted in an arrest

26,000

Number of murders tracked that did not result in an arrest

18,600

Number of those murders that had a black victim

8

Number of murders per year a detective in Detroit is tasked with solving

5

Maximum number of new murder cases experts say a detective can effectively handle in a year

Source: Washington Post, “Murder With Impunity”