A lower percentage of homicides are being solved throughout the U.S. as the nation deals with a spike in killings in recent years.

FBI data analyzed separately by two nonprofits — the Marshall Project and the Murder Accountability Project — found that the clearance rate for homicides hit an all-time low of roughly 50%.

For reference, about 71% of homicides were cleared in 1980.

“We’re on the verge of being the first developed nation where the majority of homicides go uncleared,” Thomas Hargrove, founder of the Murder Accountability Project, told The Guardian.

While the U.S. police have solved the most number of homicides since 1997, the large number of slayings that occurred between 2020 and 2021 has meant that police investigations are failing to keep pace, according to the Murder Accountability Project.

The FBI considers a homicide as “cleared” when someone is arrested, charged and turned over for prosecution, or when “exceptional means” take place, such as the death of a suspect or another jurisdiction won’t extradite a suspect.

Murders involving White victims were about 30% more likely to be solved than those involving Hispanic victims, and 50% more likely to be solved than cases involving Black victims, according to an analysis of FBI data done by CBS News.

Danielle Outlaw, the commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department, told the outlet that a lack of trust between police departments and neighborhoods that have more racial minorities has contributed to a decline in police tips and help from witnesses that typically lead to solved cases.  

“We’ve gotten in our own way,” Ms. Outlaw said. “It has to be a two-way street, as it is with any relationship.”

• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.