Although clearance rates went up a teeny, tiny bit nationally, I’m still curious why they have been generally declining over the years. It was such a huge shock to me to discover while I was writing the book that clearance rates have, in fact, been slowly going down. What really amazed me was, the decline […]

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According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports, in 2004 the national clearance rate was 62.6%. That’s up from 62.4 in 2003%. However, in an FBI preliminary report, murder was up 2.1% nationally in the first six months of 2005 (with the greatest increase in the midwest, 4.9%). The year before, murder had gone down 5.7% […]

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I just learned about this online tutorial about forensic DNA, Principles of Forensic DNA. It’s meant for prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges, but I’d be curious to hear how it is if anyone gives it a try.

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If the police get the bad guys, then the attorneys go in for the kill. (This picture was taken by an MIT student named Philip Guo in 2001.) First there are the feds, the U. S. Attorneys who prosecute federal crimes (oh God, I sound like a Law and Order episode). From their website: The […]

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