Author URLs
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2007
Subject: LCSH
DNA, homicide investigation
Disciplines
Criminology and Criminal Justice
Abstract
Homicide clearance rates in the United States have been dropping steadily since the late 1960s. The literature on homicide clearance has yet to explore exactly what effect DNA evidence is having on the homicide investigation. As such, the increased use of DNA as an investigative tool to raise homicide clearance is hardly axiomatic. The current study examined homicides committed in Manhattan, New York, within the years 1996 to 2003 for the use of DNA evidence in making an arrest. An analysis was also conducted with an eye toward how useful DNA evidence could be—indicating that, via its current usage, the creation of large DNA databases of known criminal offenders will, at best, only marginally increase the homicide clearance rate. Further, the implications of the use of DNA may point to a larger phenomenon which may have contributed to the drop in clearance experienced nationwide.
Repository Citation
Schroeder, David A., "DNA and Homicide Clearance: What's Really Going On" (2007). Criminal Justice Faculty Publications. 7.
https://digitalcommons.newhaven.edu/criminaljustice-facpubs/7
Publisher Citation
Schroeder, David (2007). DNA and Homicide Clearance: What's Really Going On (Panel Session Papers). Journal of the Institute of Justice & International Studies 7, pp. 279-98. Available at http://www.ucmo.edu/cjinst/2007%20Number%207.pdf
Comments
© 2007 by David Schroeder. Posted with permission. From The Miscarriages of Justice: Current Perspectives Conference.
Dr. Schroeder currently occupies The Oskar Schindler Humanities Endowed Professorship at the University of New Haven.