Utah Takes Aim at Unsolved Violent Crime

Despite a nationwide decline in violent crime rates, Utah faces a persistent challenge: too many violent crimes go unsolved. The consequences ripple through communities across the state, leaving victims and families without closure, allowing dangerous offenders to remain at large, and eroding confidence in the justice system. Recent data from Utah’s law enforcement agencies reveal troubling clearance gaps that demand attention.

Utah’s clearance rate for rape stood at just 34 percent in 2024, with roughly 1,300 reported sexual assault cases going unsolved that year. Robbery clearances hovered around 37 percent, and approximately 1,600 cases of aggravated assault went unresolved, with a clearance rate of 67 percent. Despite a stronger clearance rate of 78 percent, more than one in five homicide cases remain open. Utah’s challenges mirror national trends, where law enforcement agencies reported clearing approximately 44 percent of all violent crimes in 2024—creating mounting backlogs of unsolved cases and unaddressed trauma.

This solvability crisis reflects a fundamental breakdown in public safety. Research consistently demonstrates that the certainty of being caught deters crime far more effectively than the severity of punishment. Studies show that the likelihood of apprehension is a more powerful deterrent than sentence length. When violent offenders believe they can act with impunity, the results are predictable: repeat victimization, escalating violence, and communities caught in cycles of fear.

Utah’s law enforcement agencies face compounding operational challenges that make solving violent crimes increasingly difficult. Staffing shortages plague departments nationwide, with over 70 percent reporting that recruitment is more difficult now compared to five years ago. Agencies are operating at an average of 91 percent of authorized staffing levels, indicating a workforce deficit of nearly 10 percent. The burden is particularly acute in urban areas—for example, Salt Lake City has experienced a 1.5 percent increase in overall violent crime, with reported rapes surging by 20.1 percent. This creates overwhelming caseloads that force detectives to triage their work, focusing on the most solvable cases while others receive minimal follow-up.

Training and specialization gaps further complicate investigations. Smaller and rural agencies often lack formal protocols or access to advanced forensic techniques, resulting in missed opportunities such as failing to canvass for witnesses or overlooking time-sensitive digital evidence. Meanwhile, forensic testing backlogs slow momentum at critical early stages. In 2025, some states recorded an average turnaround time of up to 570 days to process sexual assault kits. A 2022 Congressional Research Service report estimated that between 90,000 and 400,000 untested rape kits exist in U.S. police departments nationwide. DNA analysis overwhelms understaffed crime labs, and many law enforcement agencies continue to lack modern evidence tracking systems, relying instead on legacy IT infrastructure and outdated processes that create bottlenecks in case management.

Witness and victim cooperation is also declining due to distrust and fear of retaliation. Police officials rely on community members to provide information about crime in their neighborhoods and help devise solutions. Research demonstrates that reporting declines sharply when trust is broken between police and communities; for example, one study showed a decline of over 50 percent in the call-to-shot ratio for gunfire following high-profile incidents of police violence. This feedback loop perpetuates itself: as more crimes go unsolved, community confidence wanes, cooperation drops further, and new cases become even harder to clear.

Utah’s recently introduced Violent Crime Clearance Rate Amendments (HB 137) takes direct aim at these challenges. The bill creates the Violent Crime Clearance Rate Fund, administered by the State Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, to provide grants to help law enforcement agencies improve their ability to solve violent crimes.

This targeted approach would:

• Strengthen investigative capacity by funding the hiring, retention, and training of personnel dedicated to investigating violent crimes, processing evidence, and analyzing crime patterns.
  
• Upgrade forensic capabilities through acquisition of modern technology and equipment for evidence collection, processing, and testing—critical investments, given nationwide forensic capacity challenges.
  
• Support witness and victim services, providing resources to facilitate cooperation in violent crime investigations and reduce barriers to reporting.
  
• Improve data infrastructure by supporting better record management and crime analysis systems, thereby enabling more effective case tracking and coordination.
  
• Ensure rural access, reserving at least 10 percent of competitive grant funding for agencies serving rural communities while including a 15 percent random award component to ensure smaller agencies without sophisticated grant-writing capacity can still benefit.
  
• Promote accountability through reporting requirements established by the commission to track outcomes, identify best practices, and ensure continuous improvement.

HB 137’s approach is both practical and equitable. By distributing resources through a competitive process while protecting smaller agencies through the rural set-aside and random awards, the bill ensures that capacity building reaches agencies of all sizes. Its emphasis on multijurisdictional applications encourages the regional coordination that research shows is essential for tracking offenders who cross county lines and for pooling specialized resources. Interagency partnerships facilitate broader intelligence sharing, expedite suspect tracking across jurisdictions, and reduce the duplication of investigative efforts. Studies show that data-sharing networks enable personnel to see the “bigger picture” regarding crime in their region and to use shared data more effectively.

The bill’s flexibility in eligible uses recognizes that different agencies face different barriers. Urban departments may need additional investigator positions to handle high caseloads, while rural agencies might benefit most from technology upgrades or specialized training. Some jurisdictions may prioritize forensic equipment, while others need witness coordinator positions or improved data systems. By allowing agencies to identify their most pressing needs, HB 137 enables tailored solutions rather than one-size-fits-all mandates. The bill also represents a strategic investment in community trust. When residents see violent crimes solved, when victims receive closure and support, and when dangerous offenders face meaningful consequences, confidence in public safety institutions grows.

The path forward is clear. HB 137 creates the framework, establishes the funding mechanism, and builds in the accountability measures necessary for success. Implementation will require the Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice to develop robust application processes, establish clear eligibility criteria, and create meaningful outcome metrics. Agencies will need to step up with thoughtful proposals demonstrating how grant funding will translate into improved clearances. And the legislature will need to monitor results, learning from early implementation to refine the program and ensure taxpayer dollars generate maximum public safety impact.

When violent crimes go unsolved, the cost is not just found in the data—it is felt in traumatized communities, where it erodes faith in justice. HB 137 represents Utah’s commitment to changing this reality by creating the framework and building in the accountability measures necessary for success. By investing in the people, technology, and systems that make case resolution possible, Utah can turn the tide on unsolved violent crime and deliver the closure victims, families, and communities deserve.