NCJ Number
123574
Date Published
1987
Length
122 pages
Annotation
This report examines why police clearance rates vary greatly from district to district in Sweden, using data on nine types of reported and cleared crimes.
Abstract
The research considered burglary, crimes against persons, fraud, vandalism, retail theft, motor vehicle theft, bicycle theft, narcotics crimes, traffic crimes, and all criminal code violations. The analysis focused on self-clearance, clearances of a series of crimes as a result of clearing one crime, and contacts with juveniles that allow clearance of a crime. Results showed that larger police stations (e.g., those in Stockholm and Goteborg) show far fewer cleared crimes and more use of decisions to cease investigation of nonserious crimes or acts in which the intention was not criminal which result in higher nonclearance rates. In addition, many large Stockholm police districts are insufficiently staffed, and many "self-cleared" crimes cannot be cleared because of lack of resources. Figures, tables, footnotes, and references