BALTIMORE (WBFF) — As lawmakers in Annapolis struggle over the best approach at curbing crime in Baltimore, researchers have examined the past seven years of killings in Baltimore.
 

Sean Kennedy, with the Maryland Public Policy Institute, has concluded that killers and their victims share similar backgrounds.
 

In the past seven years, Kennedy found that 82% of homicide suspects had prior records.
 

83% of victims also had prior criminal records.
 

His research also found that 47% of suspects had been arrested for violent crimes.
 

44% of victims had violent crime arrests on their record.
 

"People who are criminally involved kill other people who are criminally involved," said Kennedy.
 

His research also found that guns are used in the vast majority of killings and most victims are shot in the head multiple times.
 

"The fact they were doing that suggests the brazenness of killers thinking there will be no consequences," said Kennedy.
 

Kennedy also found that, over the past seven years, about a third of all homicides were solved in Baltimore meaning 2/3 of killers never paid for their crimes.