Panel Paper:
Why Do Gun Murders Have a Higher Clearance Rate Than Gunshot Assaults?
Friday, November 8, 2019
Plaza Building: Lobby Level, Director's Row E (Sheraton Denver Downtown)
*Names in bold indicate Presenter
The prevailing view is that follow-up investigations produce limited value as crimes are largely cleared by patrol officers making on-scene arrests and through the presence of eyewitnesses at the initial crime scene. We use a quasi-experimental design to compare investigative resources invested in clearing gun homicide cases relative to non-fatal gun assaults in Boston. We find the large gap in clearances (43% for gun murders vs. 19% for nonfatal gun assaults) is primarily due to sustained investigative effort in homicide cases made after the first two days. We conclude that additional investigative resources for nonfatal shootings would increase the clearance rate for nonfatal shootings.
Full Paper:
