Devaluation and Solvability: The Quest for Factors Affecting Violent Crime Clearance

The U.S. violent crime clearance rate has gradually decreased since the 1990s, and current literature posits three main explanations—victim devaluation thesis, neighborhood devaluation thesis, and solvability perspective—for the decline. The literature on violent crime clearance, however, is inconclusive due to its focus on homicides and arrests, neglect of community characteristics, and the effect victim decisions have on crime clearance. This study, therefore, used data from the 2017-2022 National Incident-Based Reporting System data, 2020 Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics data, and the 2017-2021 American Community Survey and employed multi-level binary regression models to examine the effect of victim, incident, police, and community characteristics on violent crime clearance by arrest and victim noncooperation. The results showed that aggravated assaults against non-White victims are less likely to result in an arrest than those involving White victims, but also that this finding could be because non-White aggravated assault victims are less likely to cooperate with police than White victims. Concerning solvability variables, the results showed that police workload affects homicide clearance and having a sworn detective at an agency increased the odds of clearance. It also indicated that police are more likely to solve serious crimes (involving an injury and a concomitant offense), but that this finding could partly be because victims of such crimes are more likely to cooperate with police. Concerning community characteristics, income inequality reduced the odds of an arrest but increased the odds of victim noncooperation. The findings also stressed that incidents reported in 2020 (Amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the low police legitimacy post-George Floyd’s) were less likely to be solved. Overall, the effect of key predictors on clearance differed based on the analytical strategy (with or without quick clearance) used. The policy and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Criminal Justice

Grantor

Texas State University

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Paintsil, Isaac

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Vandiver, Donna M.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Vasquez, Bob E.
• Arnio, Ashley N.
• Sheppard, Keller G.

• violent crime clearance
• victim devaluation thesis
• neighborhood devalution thesis
• solvability perspective
• arrests
• victim noncooperation

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10877/19979

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digital.library.txst.edu:10877/19979