Major U.S. cities reported spikes in their homicide rates over the past year. Such news is understandably sobering and frightening; we all want safe places to work and live and for those responsible for murder to be brought to justice. But some leaders are already claiming that these murder increases in isolated cities reflect a nationwide crime wave and are using this as rationale to halt or call for a reversal of all recent criminal justice reforms. This short-sighted, wholesale backlash fails to advance solutions that meaningfully address murder and violent crime and would only further jeopardize public safety.

Rather than frightening us into reversing course on all criminal justice reform, the rise in murder rates in some cities should prompt us to re-evaluate how we respond to murder and other violent crimes. In 2014, more than one-third of America’s murders did not even result in an arrest, leaving perpetrators at large and victims’ families in limbo. In the same year, more than half of all violent crimes went unsolved. This is the status quo that remains if we do not change our criminal justice public policy at the local, state and national levels. In order to respect murder victims and protect public safety, we need to prioritize solving more violent crimes and address the disproportionate and sometimes unnecessary terms of incarceration the justice system metes out for less serious crimes.