There might be various reasons behind the low crime clearance rates in the U.S. According to Worall (2019), a successful crime clearance means the identification and consequent arrest of the suspect by the police. The decline in clearance rates might be explained by the relaxation of law enforcement and the simultaneous increase in standards for making an arrest. Rotschild (2019) provides evidence of the previous century’s tightening of criminal laws, which resulted in faster case processing and more significant incarceration. Consequently, the law relaxation would result in police needing more effort in criminal identification.
In this context, I do not think that low clearance rates necessarily indicate the failure of the police. This fact might as well showcases that it became harder to clear the crime successfully. I believe the general population is unaware of the current clearance rates because otherwise, the overall level of police satisfaction would drop dramatically. This topic would automatically reflect on the mass media agenda and quickly become viral. Regarding the victims of the crime, I do not believe they are strongly concerned with statistics – what really matters to them is the investigation’s outcome of their personal issue; thus, it would be the predominant factor in determining the police satisfaction level.
More intense training for police officers might help resolve the issue of low clearance rates. To be precise, it is the intellectual exercise that has to be emphasized in the preparation. College degrees for police members belong among traditional police strategies (Worall, 2019). Concerning an increasing level of education in the population, criminals have become more intelligent, dangerous, and cunning. This is why police education should not lag and acquire appropriate knowledge and experience.
References
Rothschild, C. (2019). The Incarcerated State (s) of America: The Causes, Consequences, and Solutions to Mass Incarceration in the United States. The Rice Examiner, 2(1), 103-129.
Worrall, J. L. (2019). Crime control in America: What works? (4th ed.). Pearson Education