The intention of this episode is to explain how the crime data in the USA is collected and reported to the FBI through the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and the Supplemental Homicide Reports (SHR). Our guest speaker Thomas Hargrove, CEO of the Murder Accountability Project (MAP) located at www.murderdata.org, will discuss the importance of these data and how we should interpret them. He will also talk about his project of tracking unsolved homicides in the USA while directly relating to the research he has done for police agencies around the country. One such study called “Are Murders Worth Solving? A New Analysis by MAP” (http://www.murderdata.org/2018/01/are-murders-worth-solving-new-analysis.html), reflects what to some may be obvious but until now not supported by research. Simply stated, the more homicide cases a homicide unit does not resolve the more incidents of homicide will occur in that jurisdiction, increasing the workload exponentially. The inverse is: the more you solve, less will occur in the future to become cold cases.
Om Podcasten
Since 1980 the USA has accumulated over 250,000 unsolved homicides while the city of Memphis, TN has over 1,800. Various studies and the National Institute of Justice’s (NIJ) Best Practices guide for Cold Cases has determined that we are in a “Cold Case Crisis”.
According to the FBI crime data for 2017, the homicide clearance or solve rate was about 61%, leaving four out of every ten homicides unsolved. And in 2016 the solve rate figure dropped to its lowest of 59.4%. On average this adds 6 – 7,000 unsolved cases to the cold case mix each year.
The national consensus of cold case experts, who were part of the NIJ Cold Case Working Group and contributed to the best practices guide, have confirmed that the forming of dedicated cold case units will reduce not only the number of cold cases, but will help increase the solving of new homicides as they are reported.
Additionally, if the proposed process with a solid commitment and sustainment of cold case investigations are integrated into the system, we will reduce violent crime, regain public confidence in our criminal justice system, solve more cases and provide information to the forgotten victims, the surviving families. It’s not how much it will cost us to have these units in place, but rather what it will cost us if we don’t!
This podcast, “Surviving Cold Cases with Dr. Jim”, will address the cold case issue, how we got here and what we can do about it. Through weekly episodes it will discuss the problem and the nuances of conducting cold case investigations. The listener will hear about some of the many steps involved in a homicide/cold case investigation, revealing the reality of the situation and what we can do about it to make our communities a safer place to live and work.
Jim Adcock, PhD, #SolveColdCases
cold cases, unsolved homicides, homicides, forensic science, investigation, genealogy, surviving victims, homicide family’s matter