The portion of murders in the U.S. that result in a suspect being identified and acted upon by the criminal justice system has declined from 92% in 1960 to 58% in 2023. When murders and other violent crimes remain unsolved: (1) the perpetrators remain free to commit more carnage. (2) potential criminals are less deterred because they become less concerned about being caught. (3) citizens’ fears of crime and retribution for reporting crime increase. Unsolved murders are more likely to occur in minority neighborhoods because of the nature and amount of these crimes and low levels of witness cooperation.