Arrest Clearance

The most widely used definition of arrest clearance is provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), which states that a law enforcement agency clears (solves) a particular offense when “at least one person is arrested, charged with the commission of an offense, and turned over to the court for prosecution” (FBI 2000: 201). Alaw enforcement agency can also exceptionally clear an offense, which means that there are elements beyond its control that prevent the placing of formal charges. In this instance, the agency must have identified and located the offender and possess enough evidence to effect an arrest, but for one reason or another be unable to do so (e.g., the offender has died or is in a different jurisdiction and cannot be extradited). The arrest clearances reported by the FBI refer to offenders over eighteen. However, if a minor is cited to appear in juvenile court, the event is treated as a clearance by the UCR even though juveniles are “detained” rather than arrested.

The number of arrest clearances refers to the number of offenses for which an arrest is made, not the number of offenders arrested; the arrest of one individual may clear a large number of crimes, and the arrest of many persons may clear only one offense. Arrest clearances are measured as a percentage in which the number of offenses cleared by arrest is divided by the number of offenses in a year, with the resulting proportion multiplied by 100. These annual percentages, referred to as clearance rates, are used to measure individual and departmental performance.

Arrest clearances are important for several reasons. First, the criminal justice process begins with the arrest of an offender; without an arrest, there is neither further processing of offenders nor a reduction of crime. Second, if offenders are not arrested, they are free to offend again, which increases the risk of victimization. Third, the failure to arrest further traumatizes the victim and contributes to an increase in the fear of violent victimization. Fourth, because clearances are a performance measure, failure to arrest undermines the morale of law enforcement personnel. Finally, when there are no arrests, there is no information on offenders, and criminologists and other researchers may reach biased conclusions if data are missing (Riedel and Jarvis 1999).