United States | Stacking the deck

Can playing cards help catch criminals?

A novel idea for solving cold cases comes with high-stakes risks

A display of a deck of cold case playing cards featuring 65 of Cincinnati's cold case homicides
Game of life imprisonmentPhotograph: Amanda Rossmann – USA TODAY NETWORK
|WASHINGTON, DC

Despite facial recognition and other leapfrogs in technology it seems cops are getting no better at cracking crime. For the past decade the share of murders that has gone unsolved has risen. Since the pandemic it has climbed to around 50% for the first time since the FBI started counting. With more murderers at large, investigators are getting creative.

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This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Stacking the deck”

From the May 18th 2024 edition

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