Study claims Indiana is pretty bad at solving homicides

If you like watching shows or reading books about unsolved killings, well, you live in the right place.

A study released earlier this month examined the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting data to discern which states' law enforcement agencies are the best at solving homicides.

And Indiana earned a prominent position on the list – right near the bottom.

According to the home security company Vivint, Indiana’s law enforcement ranks 48th when it comes to “clearing” homicides.

Hoosier state law enforcement cleared only 44 percent of the 387 homicides reported to the FBI in 2017, the study claimed. Only Massachusetts (43 percent) and Ohio (37 percent) lagged behind.

Wyoming finished first, clearing 100 percent of its whopping 14 homicides.

In this instance, “clearing” means police have either made an arrest or confidently pinpointed the offender through other means.

I know you may be scoffing — and you may be right to do so.

Eyes all over the country roll out of heads any time the media cites a "study." It's why we think dark chocolate is good for us, or why some of us get infected with the insanely stupid idea that we shouldn't refrigerate our butter.  

And our area has been the victim of “studies” before. Evansville has been called one of the 10 “most miserable” cities in America, and in 2011 we were even crowned the “fattest” locale in the country.

You can quibble with the soundness of those studies if you want, and even though Vivint’s effort used FBI data, there might be reasons for suspicion this time, too.

For one, Vivint is a home security company not exactly known for data-heavy research. That becomes painfully obvious when you realize the study didn't even include every state. Illinois is left out completely.

A Vivint spokeswoman didn't reply to multiple requests for comment asking why Lincoln's adopted home state was left out. 

Then there are the numbers themselves.

The FBI’s Uniform Crime Data depends on local law enforcement agencies to self-report their own statistics. Some sit that out.

And the study doesn’t necessarily mean Indiana is overrun with blood-frothing, at-large murderers. Not all homicides are prosecuted as crimes. Self-defense killings and police shootings get lumped in there, too.

Still, Vivint's findings certainly jibe with what happened in Evansville in 2017.

According to the Evansville police’s annual report from that year, the city saw a dizzying 20 homicides. Only eight were cleared, putting us about four points below the state average.

The state with the highest number of reported homicides was, naturally, the most populous. California reported 1,822 homicides in 2017. They cleared 62 percent of them.

Hopefully Indiana can score better next year. We can either solve more homicides or, you know, have less of them. 

True crime:An Evansville-area TV star was beaten to death. Who killed him? | Webb

True crime:Accused of double murder, an Evansville World War II veteran vanished in 1954 | Webb

Contact columnist Jon Webb at jon.webb@courierpress.com