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Stranger Homicide-

Clearing Murders: Is It About Time?

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This study uses data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) to explore the impact of model selection on determining the association of victim-level and incident-level factors to the likelihood of homicide clearance. We compare both traditional operationalizations of clearance rates as well as the time to clearance as dependent variables in examinations of correlates of solvability in homicide cases. Using a different approach than most other analyses of this problem, the results affirm the consistency of some effects but also reveal some important differences when the aspect of time is factored into the model. Implications for analyses of efficiency and effectiveness of police response to homicide, cold-case analyses, and other strategies for solving crime are discussed.

In recent years crime rates have fallen from the historic highs of the late 1980s. However, crime clearances have fallen over the years as well (see Figure 1). In fact murder clearances were as high as 94 percent in 1961 and currently are at about 62 percent...

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Observations on Stranger Homicide

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Abstract

Through the use of qualitative, case study data for all homicides (N = 121) reported to the Office of the Coroner in Victoria, Australia for 1985 and 1986, observations were made on the role of “stranger killings” in the study of homicide. It was found that when the dynamics of the relationship between the offender and the victim were classified in terms of the nature of the on-going social interaction, there was no need to retain a category of “stranger homicide.” Most of what are classified elsewhere as stranger killings are either events that result from masculine confrontations (which start as fights) or consequences of other crimes (such as armed robbery). It is suggested that what have been considered stranger homicides can be shown to include several different forms of homicide and that, further, some forms of homicide, such as confrontational killings, must be classified as including two types (stranger and nonstranger) if it is necessary to preserve the term “stranger homicide.” Finally, it is suggested...

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