Bipartisan group backs $2.5 million effort to help solve homicide cases in Pa. 10%
By Stacy M. Brown55%
8/4/2026, 3:55:00 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 26 faulty reasoning types, including Begging the Question, Appeal to Authority, and Negativity Bias, with Appeal to Emotion as the most egregious example at 34.6% saturation with 326 hits. Analysis detected 1,763 faulty-reasoning hits from 941 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 20.3% and a BS Rank of 10% (25,783 of 28,475 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 90.50% of the article peer group.
On Wednesday, Yullio Robbins stood inside Philadelphia City Hall, holding a large photo of her smiling 28-year-old son, whose life was taken by gun violence 10 years ago.
Victim advocates comforted grieving parents nearby.
Families hugged each other, and some quietly wiped away tears.
For almost an hour, the crowded City Hall chamber was filled not only with politicians but also with parents still waiting for a knock at the door, a phone call or an arrest.
Lawmakers from both parties stood alongside police commanders, prosecutors, victim advocates and community leaders.
No one had forgotten.
No one had stopped looking.
Austin Davis, Pennsylvania’s first Black lieutenant governor and the youngest in the country, announced the state’s new VICTIM Program, a statewide effort that will invest $2.5 million to help law enforcement solve homicides and other violent crimes by improving investigative technology, strengthening forensic work and using evidence-based policing.
Arnold Ventures also pledged $1 million to help departments update crime reporting systems and improve investigations across Pennsylvania.
Standing in front of families who have spent years looking for answers, Davis said the investment was not a time to celebrate “while so many in this city are still mourning, still grieving, and still waiting for justice.”
While Philadelphia’s homicide numbers have dropped significantly and last year the city’s homicide clearance rate exceeded 80%, one of the best results in decades, the families with homicide cases still unsolved “deserve some measure of closure,” Davis said.
Officials say that hundreds of families in Pennsylvania are still waiting for answers in older homicide and violent crime cases, some going back many years or even decades.
The new funding will help investigators use technology and forensic tools that were not available or common when many of these cases occurred, officials said.
Bipartisan effort
Growing up in South Philadelphia showed him how gun violence changes families forever, state Rep.
Jordan Harris said.
He explained that criminal justice reform cannot stop at sentencing or prison policy while victims families are still waiting for answers.
“Justice reform is not complete until you have justice for the victims of crime as well,” Harris said.
“You have to do both.”
The VICTIM Program is one of the most important investments in this year’s state budget, he said.
“The $2.5 million that’s included in this budget matters,” Harris said.
“Our police departments and our law enforcement need the tools necessary to make sure that when you have a victim of crime, that victim’s family gets justice.”
Republican Sen.
Joe Picozzi and Democratic Rep.
Tim Briggs led the bipartisan effort in Harrisburg.
Speakers said the legislation shows that helping victims is an issue that can bring lawmakers from different parties together.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said that every unsolved homicide leaves behind more than just an open case.
He explained that these cases mean birthdays go uncelebrated, holiday tables have empty chairs, children grow up without parents and parents grow old without answers.
“Every unsolved homicide or act of violence is a victim, a family searching for answers, and a community waiting to see whether justice will be served,” Bethel said.
He mentioned one of Philadelphia’s most well-known cases.
For more than 65 years, the child known as the “Boy in the Box” had no name.
Thanks to advances in forensic genealogy, he was finally identified as Joseph Augustus Zarelli.
“The passage of time does not erase our responsibility to our victims,” Bethel said.
“The right investigative tools can provide answers even decades later.”
Philadelphia Victim Advocate Adara L.
Combs said that survivors often spend years wondering whether anyone still remembers their loved ones.
“Justice should never have an expiration date,” Combs said.
“Today’s announcement reinforces our collective commitment to victims, to accountability, and to ensuring that these families know answers will possibly come.”
'It’s been rough'
Kevin Ring of Arnold Ventures, a nonprofit focused on improving lives through evidence-based policies, said the organization’s $1 million investment comes from years of research.
That research shows that one of the best ways to prevent violent crime is to make sure offenders are identified, arrested and held accountable.
He said that better investigations, stronger technology and evidence-based policing save lives.
The bipartisan group behind the VICTIM Program shows how government and philanthropy can work together.
Then Yullio Robbins walked slowly to the podium and changed the mood in the room.
She did not talk about laws or programs.
She spoke about her son.
He was 28 years old when he was murdered.
That was 10 years ago.
No arrest has ever been made.
“It’s been rough,” Robbins said.
“I’ve been on this journey for 10 long years.”
Detectives once told her surveillance video from the killing could not clearly identify the person responsible, she said.
Hearing officials describe new investigative technology gave her hope there may finally be another chance.
“I feel like I can recognize who this person is,” she said.
“This person probably walks by me every day.”
Then she shared something that cannot be measured by money, crime statistics or clearance rates.
“I was so broken,” she said, pausing briefly to collect her thoughts.
“I’m still broken.”
Another pause.
“But each day … I get stronger and stronger.”
When the news conference ended, families slowly picked up their things.
Some hugged each other.
Others stayed to thank the officials who had listened to them that afternoon.
No murder was solved that day, and no family left with the answers they had been searching for over the years.
But many people left with something they were afraid of losing.
Hope.
Speakers
6speakers58%attributed speech393writer words
Selected voice
100%flagged-word coverageAustin Davis
124 attributed words23% of attributed speech86% writer coverage
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