Structural, systemic flaws in police work. (case, murders, serial killers, shooting)

[Makeone]

I'm working on a paper where I examine the types of murders committed in the US and the nature of the unsolved ones.
This seems like a big forum and everything and I was wondering if you guys had some insight into what kind of crimes (murders) have the worst solve rate.
Are there some trends or maybe some systemic flaws in the in the investigation of murderers.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by Makeone

I'm working on a paper where I examine the types of murders committed in the US and the nature of the unsolved ones.
This seems like a big forum and everything and I was wondering if you guys had some insight into what kind of crimes (murders) have the worst solve rate.
Are there some trends or maybe some systemic flaws in the in the investigation of murderers.

You are probably best off looking in some sort of FBI or government data collection or maybe something local and then try to extrapolate.

However, I've seen data in my life for other professions like doctor errors and lawyer errrors and pretty much the #1 factor is going to be human error (assuming the case is solvable)

So pretty much you have cases that are inherently unsolvable.
(At least not to the point of conviction like Lacey Peterson)
(THe Robert Blake case would be a good example too. He most certainly did it but the gal had so many enemies it gave him just enough fog to get not-guilty)

Then you have cases that were solvable but something prevented it from being solved. (I'm assuming your definition of unsolved is a lack of conviction)

That would encompass:

-Error in evidence collection
-Error in evidence handling
-Error in analysis of evidence
-(These apply to witnesses too)
-Prosecutorial error
-Jury error

I might be missing some but I think I got most.

[billydaman]

Check this out:

Law enforcement officials say the chief reason is a rise in drug- and gang-related killings, which are often impersonal and anonymous, and thus harder to solve than slayings among family members or friends.

Many slayings nowadays are gang- and drug-related killings — often, drive-by shootings that involve a burst of gunfire so indiscriminate that killer and victim don't know each other.
More in U.S. get away with murder - US news - Crime & courts | NBC News

Do a Google search bunch of information available. Despite one of the posters wanting to blame all aspects of police work the trend I noticed had a lot to with witnesses and the inability to link a suspect with the victim via relationships or a witness. Very rarely do police get a lot of physical evidence that directly links to someone, so they are left looking for some sort of relationship that leads to finding a suspect.

[texdav]

Originally Posted by Makeone

I'm working on a paper where I examine the types of murders committed in the US and the nature of the unsolved ones.
This seems like a big forum and everything and I was wondering if you guys had some insight into what kind of crimes (murders) have the worst solve rate.
Are there some trends or maybe some systemic flaws in the in the investigation of murderers.

Stranger murders. No flaws just little to identify a suspect even with evidence such as DNA and fingerprints unless on record. But just AFIS and DNA of felons on file have changed it a lot over the last few decades. meaning you can quickly check all on file system. They only flaw in DNA system is that often its not done because of the fact that DNA does not guarantee suspect left it and the cost to do it to check the files. AFIS is just computer reading and checking the finger print with enough points to identify against millions of file. But even then it has to be verified by a expert. Computers can't testify or be examined at trail as always.

[Makeone]

I will try to be even more specific here. What I am looking for are the cases in which the murderer is hard to catch. What I am trying to do is not look into incompetence of the police but structural flaws which make certain types of murders hard to catch.

One aspect of this was muders in high crime, gang ridden arias where the population was unwilling to cooperate. Leaving many gang murders unsolved. However personally those types of correlations (poverty, robbery etc) don't really interest me.

[texdav]

But still murder by stranger is what made even recognizing serial killers hard to even classify as such. The police always look for a possible motive first of all and gang warfare usually is seen by what is found out about victim and the actual murder itself. They also usually have people who know who killed who and even witnesses. Watch 48 hours which deals a lot with gang type murders all the time. No relationship to victim is the hardest to solve; unless the murderer runs his/her mouth.

[don6170]

Originally Posted by Makeone

What I am trying to do is not look into incompetence of the police but structural flaws which make certain types of murders hard to catch.

Not sure if it is a structural flaw, but many times police will have a suspect in mind and try to force-fit the facts to match their preconceived decision. Once they have focused on that suspect, they often stop looking for others.

I think this is a good example (although we only saw what NBC put into the show):
http://www.reddit.com/r/StLouis/comm...on_sumac_drive

[empireghost]

One of the hardest things for police to deal with during a high profile investigation, murder or otherwise, is public outcry...which quickly turns to political pressure. It leads to corner-cutting, fact-stretching and mistakes in general.

[Cliffie]

One structural flaw in my neck of the woods is simply not having enough police to go around. You can't just work these people to death. So cases that might well be solvable go unaddressed because something else looks more promising.