Comments on: PERCENT OF CRIMES SOLVED

By: Ron Grannus

Ron Grannus — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 16:43:02 +0000

The police and FBI post the “clearance rate” for crimes solved. What they don’t tell you is:
The cleearance rate is only the percentage of crimes in which an arrest was made. It says nothing about whether the person was guilty, or, if guilty, there was enough evidence to convict.
The clearance rate is reported by police departments themselves, who investigations have found report inflated rate to make themselves look good.
A significant number of people convicted eventually are proved to be innocent.
Taken together, all that means that the percentage of crimes actually solved (the perpetrator is caught and convicted) is about 1/4 of the clearance rate.
Overall, about 2% of reported crimes and 40% of murders are actually solved. Calculate it for yourself or see: Malcolm C Young, Marc Mauer: “…ultimately, only about 2 percent of violent crimes result in a conviction.” “Tougher Laws Will Not Prevent Crime.” In: _Crime_, P. Winters, ed. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press.

By: Zoolapalooza

Zoolapalooza — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 11:23:45 +0000

should they make a show about fictional unsolved crimes ?

By: nathan

nathan — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 01:24:40 +0000

like putting you down?

By: Steph462

Steph462 — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:37:38 +0000

So true…

By: vegan

vegan — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 21:38:40 +0000

you dont understand…when the police solves a crime it’s so unique that someone just HAS to write a novel about it…

By: Pencilsharpener

Pencilsharpener — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 07:10:10 +0000

It’s almost as annoying as spelling annoying incorrectly!

By: daarkraine

daarkraine — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:44:58 +0000

There’s plenty of things that are considered crimes that aren’t.

By: Blast

Blast — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:22:09 +0000

Here’s a nice mistery:
WHY THE HELL DO YOU KEEP CAPS LOCK ALWAYS ON?
It’s freaking anoying!

By: philip

philip — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 07:55:13 +0000

Take off the ghost’s mask!

By: NoOneInteresting

NoOneInteresting — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 05:51:35 +0000

And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids!

By: kg333

kg333 — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 05:12:24 +0000

You forgot the Scooby Doo category.

By: Me

Me — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 23:31:12 +0000

They only solve crimes against the good-looking women. Who cares about the fat and ugly ones?

By: penguin_man

penguin_man — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:54:49 +0000

But there’s plenty of crimes that the police don’t even know happened.

By: bob

bob — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:41:31 +0000

ever heard of the word percentage? might sound a bit snotty but I’m pretty drunk so I don’t care too much

By: madcow

madcow — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:27:33 +0000

ALLCAPS

By: TiwazTyrsfist

TiwazTyrsfist — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:26:46 +0000

I’d put it up to at least 45%.

By: Cameron

Cameron — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:33:13 +0000

@Setagana

Read “Wasting Police Time” by PC David Copperfield (pen name). That’ll give you some data.

By: Bryonia

Bryonia — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:27:46 +0000

I’m pretty certain they solve more than 5% irl

By: MK1K

MK1K — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:27:15 +0000

Actually I think it’s like 60%, but whatever.

By: Setagana

Setagana — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:21:35 +0000

Heh, true indeed. Someone should also make a pie graph of police activities, solving crimes and handing out traffic tickets.

By: somejsmith

somejsmith — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:43:13 +0000

eh it’s more than that. still true though.

By: Lame-o McLame

Lame-o McLame — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:35:09 +0000

Awesome graph!