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True, but you can’t effectively convict someone on circumstantial evidence alone. Most criminals get caught because they’re desperate or stupid. The police don’t catch smart criminals. They catch the low hanging fruit, they’re getting the ones who can be caught.
Approximately half of all murders each year in the US end up going unsolved. That’s not the conviction rate you want with all the “… surveillance footage; cell phone records; purchase records at stores; internet search histories; etc. If you have a motive to kill the person, e.g. you and your neighbor were having some kind of dispute…” that you have at your disposal.
Having grown up in proximity to violent gangs I can tell you plenty of gang members exit the drug trade and go into legitimate businesses all the time and never get caught. The whole trope of “I’m going to only make a couple million and then quietly exit,” isn’t a myth. It happens all the time. You’ll find only 1-2 pictures of these people floating online. They have zero Internet presence. They aren’t extravagant or flashy. They’re normal by every appearance; there’s nothing for law enforcement to work with.
A long time ago I watched one of Michael Franzese’s videos and someone was interviewing him about people in that life who were known killers. He said a lot of it is grossly inflated by law enforcement and he can’t imagine some of the figures that were attached to certain suspects, because there are people in active war zones who don’t even kill that many people in the line of combat. There are active hoods in the United States of America that have murder rates higher than the we had at the height of the war in Iraq.
I have no problems believing the numbers suspected by these guys. I once observed a discussion someone had with a historian who just didn’t believe the Mongol’s genocide of the Islamic world was as large as it was because the logistics of it didn’t make any sense. And the historian replied back “You don’t need industrial facilities to commit a genocide. You just drag someone out to the back with a machete and kill them…” I think statements like the one you offered and of people like Franzese really just come from a failure of imagination and living closely on the ground to that kind of activity.
It’s really not the surprise people think it is.
What percentage of the unsolved murders are gang-bangers in the ghetto, getting away with it in large part because the authorities don't really care all that much? I don't know the stats, but I bet it's a pretty high percentage.
Here's what I said in my post:
Do I need to spell out what I meant by "this kind of murder"?
So that I understand what you are talking about, would you agree that Bryan Kohberger was convicted (or would have been convicted) on circumstantial evidence alone?
Don’t know the percentages. But I can put it to you this way; the people in our hood growing up who were known to have been shooters or involved in them are either still free to this day or are doing time for non-homicide related offenses. Most murders in the US are not due to them being some kind of high organized special hit that requires military expertise or sophistication.
You quoted someone else in your reply to me here, but I’ll go ahead and respond anyway.
You missed my point. The point I was implying is that if your goal is to “get away” with murder, provided you know what you’re doing, your knowledge of chemistry and physical science is one of the best places to make your bet.
I didn’t claim that it “never happens.” How many murders do you think are resolved purely on circumstantial evidence? Most don’t even make it to the courtroom.
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