Abstract
The objectives of solvability research are to enable the cost-effective investigation of crimes and to improve the number of detected cases. ‘Triaging’ of cases may be used to facilitate the alignment of resources with incident solvability at each step of the investigation process. Solvability efforts take place against a backdrop of increasing demands, with antisocial behaviour, fraud and cyber offences that are ‘new’ in police investigations. Many offences are perpetrated by offenders and networks from foreign jurisdictions, a few of which are investigated or solved. Resource reductions and the refocusing of police effort into non-crime events involving those at risk of harm, such as missing persons, are also implicated. Detecting crime has an enduring importance through deterring offending, enabling justice to be dispensed and helping maintain confidence in the police. Arrest is a prerequisite for rehabilitative interventions for offenders in the community or while in prison, and for the protection of the public from prolific and serious violent and sexual offenders, whose commission of crimes is largely curtailed while incarcerated. By these means, crime detection helps cement ‘normative compliance’. The volume’s contents cover existing research into the effects of crime solvability and resources on investigating and detecting crime; the solvability of high-volume property crimes, including cyber-offending; the solvability and detection of violent and sexual and hate offences; how offence solvability may be improved; the effects of resources on detection; and a theoretical resourcing-solvability model of crime detection, through which the principal concepts presented in the volume are synthesised.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Ahlberg, J., & Knutsson, J. (1990). The risk of detection. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 6(1), 117–130.
Bales, W. D., & Piquero, A. R. (2012). Assessing the impact of imprisonment on recidivism. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 8, 71–101.
Barnard, P. (2015). Online vehicle sales fraud—Can police target prevention messages more efficiently and effectively? (MSt thesis). University of Cambridge.
Blakely, R. (2018, January 08). US murder rate plunges after police algorithm predicts crime. The Times.
Blumstein, A., Cohen, J., Das, S., & Miotra, D. (1988). Specialization and seriousness during adult criminal careers. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 4(4), 303–345.
Blumstein, A., & Wallman, J. (2000). The crime drop in America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bottoms, A. (2001). Compliance and community penalties. In A. Bottoms, L. Gelsthorpe, & S. Rex (Eds.), Community penalties: Changes and challenges. Willan: Cullompton.
Bradford, B., Jackson, J., & Stanko, E. (2009). Contact and confidence: Revisiting the impact of public encounters with the police. Policing & Society: An International Journal of Research and Policy, 19(1), 20–46.
Brandl, S. G., & Frank, J. (1994). The relationship between evidence, detective effort, and the disposition of burglary and robbery investigations. American Journal of Police, 13(3), 149–168.
Budd, T. (1999). Burglary of domestic dwellings: Findings from the British Crime Survey (Home Office Statistical Bulletin 4/99). London: Home Office.
Cohen, L. E., & Felson, M. (1979). Social change and crime rate trends: A routine activity approach. American Sociological Review, 44(4), 588–608.
Coupe, R. T. (2016). Evaluating the effects of resources and solvability on burglary detection. Policing and Society: An International Journal of Research and Policy, 26(5), 563–587.
Coupe, R. T., & Blake, L. (2005). The effects of patrol workloads and response strength on burglary emergencies. Journal of Criminal Justice, 33(3), 239–255.
de Quetteville, H. (2018, June 07). There’s a weapon that police could deploy against violent crime—But they’re not using it. The Telegraph. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/06/07/weapon-police-could-deploy-against-violent-crime-not-using/.
Doyle, R. (2018). Personal communication from a serving officer from the Devon & Cornwall Police Service concerning the patrol resources used to deal with missing persons.
Eck, J. E. (1983). Solving crimes: The investigation of burglary and robbery. Washington, DC: Police Executive Research Forum.
Greenwood, P. W., & Petersilia, J. (1975). The criminal investigation process: Volume I: Summary and policy implications. Santa Monica, CA: The RAND Corporation.
Hope, T. (2012). Riots, pure and simple? Criminal Justice Matters, 87(1), 2–4.
Killias, M., Aebi, M., & Ribeaud, D. (2000) Does community service rehabilitate better than short-term imprisonment? Results of a controlled experiment. The Howard Journal, 39(1), 40–57.
Lamme, M., & Bernasco, W. (2013). Are mobile offenders less likely to be caught? The influence of the geographical dispersion of serial offenders’ crime locations on their probability of arrest. European Journal of Criminology, 10(2), 168–186.
Lewis, P., Newburn, T.,Taylor, M., Mcgillivray, C., Greenhill, A., Frayman, H., & Proctor, R. (2011). Reading the riots: investigating England’s summer of disorder. Reading the riots, The London School of Economics and Political Science and The Guardian, London: UK. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/46297/1/Reading%20the%20riots%28published%29.pdf
Mears, D. P., Cochran, J. C., & Bales, W. D. (2012). Gender differences in the effects of prison on recidivism. Journal of Criminal Justice, 40, 370–378.
Morgan, R., & Newburn, T. (1998). The future of policing. Oxford: OUP.
Murray, J., Loeber, R., & Pardini, D. (2012). Parental involvement in the criminal justice system and the development of youth theft, marijuana use, depression and poor academic performance. Criminology, 50(1), 255–302.
Nagin, D. S., Cullen, F. T., & Jonson, C. L. (2009). Imprisonment and reoffending. In M. Tonry (Ed.), Crime and justice: A review of research (Vol. 38). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Petrosino, A., Petrosino, C. T., & Guckenburg, S. (2010). Formal system processing of juveniles: Effects on delinquency. Oslo, Norway: The Campbell Collaboration. www.campbellcollaboration.org.
Robb, P., Coupe, R. T., & Ariel, B. (2015). ‘Solvability’ and detection of metal theft on railway property. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 21(4), 463–484.
Robbins, J. (2018). Exclusive: More than 96% of reported fraud cases go unsolved. https://www.which.co.uk/news/2018/09/exclusive-more-than-96-of-reported-fraud-cases-go-unsolved/.
Robinson, A., & Tilley, N. (2009). Factors influencing police performance in the investigation of volume crimes in England and Wales. Police Practice and Research: An International Journal, 10(3), 209–223.
Skogan, W. G. (2006) Asymmetry in the impact of encounters with the police. Policing & Society, 16(2), 99–126.
Spelman, W. (2006). The limited importance of prison expansion. In A. Blumstein & J. Wallman (Eds.), The crime drop in America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Stavisky. (2018). The role of ethnic communities and ethnic identities in explaining relationships with, and attitudes towards, the police in the London borough of Hackney (Doctoral thesis). University of Cambridge.
Tilley, N., Robinson, A., & Burrows, J. (2007). The investigation of high volume crime. In T. Newburn, T. Williamson, & A. Wright (Eds.), Handbook of criminal investigation (pp. 226–254). London: Willan Publishing.
van de Rakt, M., Murray, J., & Nieuwbeerta, P. (2012). The long-term effects of paternal imprisonment on criminal trajectories of children. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 49(1), 81–108.
von Hirsch, A., Bottoms, A. E., Bumey, E., & Wikstrom, P. O. (1999). Criminal deterrence and sentence severity: An analysis of recent research. Oxford: Hart Publishing.
Weatherburn, D. (2010). The effect of prison on adult re-offending. Crime and Justice Bulletin (New South Wales, Bureau of Crime, Statistics, and Research) Number 143.
Wermink, H., Blokland, A., Nieuwbeerta, P., Nagin, D., & Tollenaar, N. (2010). Comparing the effects of community service and short-term imprisonment on recidivism: A matched samples approach. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 6, 325–349.
Wildeman, C., Schnittker, J., & Turney, K. (2012). Despair by association? The mental health of mothers with children by recently incarcerated fathers. American Sociological Review, 77(2), 216–243.
Willmott, R. H. (1814). Memoirs of military surgery (Vols. 1–3). Baltimore: Cushing.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Coupe, R.T., Ariel, B., Mueller-Johnson, K. (2019). Introduction. In: Coupe, R., Ariel, B., Mueller-Johnson, K. (eds) Crime Solvability Factors. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17160-5_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17160-5_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-17159-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-17160-5
eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)