Our friends at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government have put together a study on homicide in 24 percent black Boston they have desperately tried to keep from the public eye until today. [The Police and Public Discourse on “Black-on-Black” Violence, National Institute of Justice, May 2015]:

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, 24 percent of Boston’s estimated 618,000 residents identied themselves as black. Between 2000 and 2013, Boston experienced 836 homicides. Nearly 74 percent of Boston homicide victims were black (615 of 836), and roughly 68 percent of arrested homicide offenders were also black (294 of 430). In cleared black homicides (218, 35.4 percent of 615), 91.7 percent of the offenders were black (200 of 218). As figure 4 shows, the year-to-year variation in total homicide counts in Boston is largely driven by black homicide victimization rates. Black homicide victims were primarily young (mean age = 26.6 years, 54 percent were age 24 and younger), overwhelmingly male (91.1 percent), and usually died from gunshot wounds (84.1 percent). Arrested black homicide o enders were also primarily young (mean age = 25.0 years, 59.5 percent were age 24 and younger) and overwhelmingly male (94.2 percent). In addition, 78 percent of black homicide victims (480 of 615) and almost 90 percent of arrested black homicide offenders (264 of 294) were known to the Massachusetts criminal justice system before the homicide incident. Black homicide victims and arrested black homicide offenders known to the criminal justice system averaged, respectively, 12.4 and 12.7 prior arraignments in Massachusetts courts for a variety of violent, drug, property and disorder offenses. Boston Police Department (BPD) homicide detectives cleared 50.9 percent of all homicide victimizations by arrest or exceptional circumstances, such as the subsequent suicide or murder of the offender, between 2000 and 2013 (426 of 836 homicide victims). Incidents involving homicides of white non-Hispanic victims had an 80.0 percent clearance rate (72 of 90 non-Hispanic white homicide victims). However, BPD homicide detectives only cleared 35.9 percent of non-Hispanic black homicide victims during this same time period (204 of 573 non-Hispanic black homicide victims). is disparity seems to be strongly in uenced by very low clearance rates for gang-related homicides. Only 26.0 percent of gang-related non-Hispanic black homicides (82 of 315) were cleared by arrest or exceptional circumstances between 2000 and 2013.

So homicides involving white victims were cleared in 4 out of every 5 cases, while homicides involving black victims had a clearance rate of barely over 33 percent. One can clearly surmise from this Harvard Kennedy School of Government study on homicides in Boston that blacks represent closer to 80 – 85 percent of the suspects in the murders from 2000 – 2013, were detectives able to solve said crimes.

But, in the black community in 24 percent black Boston, snitches get stitches, right? Why talk to a white detective when you can protect your black brother from the racist criminal justice system?