Homicide Investigations in Context: Exploring Explanations for the Divergent Impacts of Victim Race, Gender, Elderly Victims, and Firearms on Homicide Clearances

Abstract

Studies examining factors influencing homicide clearances have produced consistent findings for child victims, arguments, and incident location. Conclusions have been far more varied regarding the social location of the victim and incident attributes such as firearms. Using homicides reported to the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) between 2008 and 2012, the current study uses Conjunctive Analysis of Case Configurations (CACC) to analyze combinations of victim and incident attributes most likely to lead to cleared homicides. In doing so, we assess the variable impacts of victim gender, race, elderly victims, and firearms across contexts to understand their inconsistent effects in the prior literature.