What Factors Influence Whether Homicide Cases Are Solved? Insights From Qualitative Research With Detectives in Great Britain and the United States

• Author: Mike Maguire,Edward R. Maguire,Fiona Brookman
• Published date: 01 May 2019
• Date: 01 May 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/1088767918793678
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/1088767918793678

Homicide Studies

2019, Vol. 23(2) 145 –174

© 2018 SAGE Publications

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DOI: 10.1177/1088767918793678

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Article

What Factors Influence

Whether Homicide Cases

Are Solved? Insights From

Qualitative Research With

Detectives in Great Britain

and the United States

Fiona Brookman1, Edward R. Maguire2,

and Mike Maguire1

Abstract

A growing body of research examines factors that influence the likelihood of

solving homicide cases. Much of this research emanates from North America and

is based on quantitative analysis of police data. This article explores the views

of homicide detectives, complemented by observations of investigations, in both

Great Britain and the United States, regarding factors that affect the chances of

solving homicides. Although we find some important differences between nations,

the qualitative evidence suggests that the likelihood of solving even the most

challenging homicide cases in both nations can be influenced by police agency at the

individual and strategic level.

Keywords

homicide, homicide investigation, detectives, clearance rate, detection rate, solvability,

qualitative research, United States and Great Britain

1University of South Wales, Pontypridd, UK

2Arizona State University, Phoenix, USA

Corresponding Author:

Fiona Brookman, Centre for Criminology, University of South Wales, Treforest Campus, Pontypridd

CF37 1DL, UK.

Email: Fiona.brookman@southwales.ac.uk

793678HSXXXX10.1177/1088767918793678Homicide StudiesBrookman et al.

research-article2018

146 Homicide Studies 23(2)

Introduction

Homicide is generally regarded as the most serious type of criminal offense. In many

instances, it is viewed as what Innes (2014) described as a “signal crime,” or an inci-

dent that sends a message to the public that all is not well in a particular locality,

thereby increasing concerns about safety and security. Thus, although homicide is rare

compared with other forms of crime, homicide investigations and their outcomes are

subject to considerable scrutiny both from within police organizations and from mul-

tiple external sources, including the public, the media, and different levels of govern-

ment. Indeed, success or failure in “solving” homicides (as reflected in prominent

individual cases or in overall rates) is often taken as a general barometer of police

effectiveness (Brookman & Innes, 2013). The importance of understanding how and

why homicides are solved is highlighted by the fact that, despite major advances in

forensic science, homicide clearance rates have declined significantly in the United

States (and to a much lesser extent in the United Kingdom) since the 1960s.

A growing body of research has examined the factors thought to influence homi-

cide case outcomes. The English language research on this topic is dominated by stud-

ies from North America, the majority of which rely on multivariate statistical

methodologies. Such studies offer many benefits, one of which is that they provide

estimates of the relative influence of multiple explanatory factors on case outcomes.

However, they also have limitations. Their focus tends to be on individual case-related

variables, such as the characteristics of the victim or location of the incident, rather

than on police-related factors such as the level and quality of investigative resources

employed. Alternatively, they focus on broader social or cultural factors such as the

cohesiveness of the local community or their attitudes toward the police (Maguire,

King, Johnson, & Katz, 2010). One result of this is that most of the variables included

in the analysis are presented as “unalterable facts,” beyond the control of the police.

This can create a somewhat passive and deterministic view of homicide investigations

in which the actions of the police appear to have relatively little influence on the out-

come. Such methodologies can also fail to capture the effect of complex and dynamic

relationships between the police and particular communities or social groups. Perhaps

most important, they leave open many questions about the reasons behind the statisti-

cal associations they identify.

A much smaller body of research has relied on qualitative approaches, including

field observations and interviews with homicide investigators. While qualitative

approaches raise certain inferential challenges, and cannot conclusively demonstrate

which factors have an impact on outcomes, they also offer several key advantages.

These include the ability to gather richly detailed data, to explore topics for which

systematic quantitative data are not available, and to gain a deeper understanding of

how and why certain factors may influence outcomes (King, Keohane, & Verba,

1994). In this article, we present findings based on qualitative interviews in the

United States and Britain in which homicide detectives were asked to identify and

discuss factors that they believe influence homicide case outcomes. By focusing

upon detectives’ own insights combined with fieldwork observations of active