re: Do we as a country suck at solving murders, or are detectives under qualified?

I've worked with crimes against children divisions and I can say in a lot of those instances it's a lack of understanding/knowledge of the area (child development, mental health, etc,...). Also, it's damn near impossible to get people of a certain sea to talk to you if you don't have the right approach.

Your question is difficult to answer when looking at murders as a whole.

A break down of the murders by demographic, type ( robbery, domestic, etc), and location would tell a better tale.

Not easy