NCJ Number
138620
Date Published
1992
Length
290 pages
Annotation
A model was developed on the basis of data collected from approximately 273 police and sheriff departments in Washington State on over 1,300 murder cases from 1981 through 1986 to determine the critical solvability factors present in murder investigations.
Abstract
The model examined the crime of murder in terms of five major components: the location where the victim was last seen, the point of initial contact between the offender and victim, the location of an initial assault, the actual murder site, and the body recovery site. Available information about time, time spans, and intervals of distance was used to analyze the relationship of each component to solvability. Findings support the study's general proposition: the more information (dates, time spans, and intervals of distance) that is known about the components (victim's last seen site, initial contact site, initial assault site, murder site, and body recovery site) of a murder incident, the more likely a significantly higher percentage of investigations will result in solution. Appendixes provide a Homicide Information and Tracking System (HITS) data collection form and coding manual. 2 figures, 23 tables, 46 references, and 7 appendixes