Cold Case Units: The Best Practices for Agencies
Faculty Mentor Name
Steven Hopper
Format Preference
Poster
Abstract
The US Department of Justice reported a statistic from the FBI Uniform Crime Report that estimated in 2017, only 62% of murders and 35% of sexual assaults were able to be solved. They also reported that experts looking at the data estimate that our country has 250,000 unsolved murders, increasing by 6,000 a year. With that estimate, in 2023, there are at least 286,000 unsolved murders in the US. The Department of Justice also cited a case of the Metropolitan Police in the District of Columbia, who, in 2017, had 170 solved cold cases solved after only 5 years of having a designated squad, showing that allocating resources to this cause produces results. The National Institute of Justice states that, “Experience has shown that cold case programs can solve a substantial number of violent crime cold cases, including homicides and sexual assaults.” Despite this, only 7% of agencies have designated units at time of publishing. In a list of recommendations from NIJ about creating and maintaining a cold case unit, they list 23 items for agencies to consider. The goal of this research is to look into agencies with cold case units to see what solutions have worked for them and what agencies might be able to do in order to further successful units. We will also be looking at case studies to compare outcomes and make recommendations.
Cold Case Units: The Best Practices for Agencies
The US Department of Justice reported a statistic from the FBI Uniform Crime Report that estimated in 2017, only 62% of murders and 35% of sexual assaults were able to be solved. They also reported that experts looking at the data estimate that our country has 250,000 unsolved murders, increasing by 6,000 a year. With that estimate, in 2023, there are at least 286,000 unsolved murders in the US. The Department of Justice also cited a case of the Metropolitan Police in the District of Columbia, who, in 2017, had 170 solved cold cases solved after only 5 years of having a designated squad, showing that allocating resources to this cause produces results. The National Institute of Justice states that, “Experience has shown that cold case programs can solve a substantial number of violent crime cold cases, including homicides and sexual assaults.” Despite this, only 7% of agencies have designated units at time of publishing. In a list of recommendations from NIJ about creating and maintaining a cold case unit, they list 23 items for agencies to consider. The goal of this research is to look into agencies with cold case units to see what solutions have worked for them and what agencies might be able to do in order to further successful units. We will also be looking at case studies to compare outcomes and make recommendations.