JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Action News Jax reported the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office announced three different arrests in three different murders in 2024 and 2023.
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But JSO’s overall murder clearance rate is far from the case closed, for now.
“These kids are young getting killed. Younger than my son was. So, my heart breaks,” Beverly McClain said.
She started the organization Families of Slain Children after her 28-year-old son, Andre Johnson, was shot and killed. Her son’s case from years ago is still open.
According to JSO’s transparency page, there were 123 murders year to date in 2022, 117 in 2023, and 57 so far in 2024. Even though this year’s case count has dropped by more than half, McClain said it’s too many.
“It’s still happening,” she said. “And one is too many.”
The rate at which those crimes are solved is also trending down. JSO reported a clearance rate of nearly 65% in 2022, to almost 60% in 2023, and so far, it’s just about 54% in 2024.
“It’s a hurting thing and it brings back questions. Why are these mothers going through that,” McClain said.
JSO said it switched its reporting method in 2023. Solve rates are now a forever-changing number. For example, a representative said a 2022 murder case cleared in 2024 still goes towards 2022’s clearance rate. So, because 2024 cases are more recent — the percentage is lower because JSO said it sometimes takes years to solve a case.
It’s why McClain urges neighbors to speak up and say something if they know anything about a crime.
“They should be talking about it. It should be a door-to-door situation. Where people come out and be concerned about their neighbors,” she said.
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