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Arrest Clearances for Homicide

A Study of Los Angeles

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Abstract

At the time Wolfgang (1958) completed his classic research on homicide, arrest clearances for criminal homicide in Philadelphia were 94%. Of the 588 criminal homicides between 1948 and 1952, only 38 cases were listed as uncleared. On the basis of police reports requested by Wolfgang from 18 U.S. cities, percent cleared by arrest ranged from 84.1% in Seattle to 98.8% in Buffalo, except for Pittsburgh (1949–1953), the period covered by the clearance statistics was from 1948–1952. Although the number of cases was small, Wolfgang did a simple analysis comparing cleared and uncleared homicides in a short (10 pages) chapter.

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Riedel, M. (2002). Arrest Clearances for Homicide. In: Silverman, R.A., Thornberry, T.P., Cohen, B., Krisberg, B. (eds) Crime and Justice at the Millennium. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-4883-3_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-4883-3_7

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-4930-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-4883-3

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