Table 25

Percent of Offenses Cleared by Arrest or Exceptional Means
by Population Group, 2007

Population group		Violent crime	Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter	Forcible rape	Robbery	Aggravated assault	Property crime	Burglary	Larceny- theft	Motor vehicle theft	Arson¹	Number of agencies	2007 estimated population
TOTAL ALL AGENCIES:	Offenses known	1,227,330	14,811	78,740	383,749	750,030	8,716,315	1,946,803	5,774,598	994,914	62,248	14,108	262,114,256
TOTAL ALL AGENCIES:	Percent cleared by arrest	44.5	61.2	40.0	25.9	54.1	16.5	12.4	18.6	12.6	18.3
TOTAL CITIES	Offenses known	958,761	11,354	57,646	330,407	559,354	6,750,388	1,420,331	4,543,080	786,977	45,769	10,006	172,595,675
TOTAL CITIES	Percent cleared by arrest	42.5	60.6	38.6	25.5	52.5	16.6	11.9	18.9	11.5	17.9
GROUP I (250,000 and over)	Offenses known	401,518	5,572	18,068	164,288	213,590	2,103,825	469,463	1,270,384	363,978	17,011	69	42,439,501
GROUP I (250,000 and over)	Percent cleared by arrest	36.5	58.4	41.2	22.5	46.4	12.6	9.4	14.8	9.3	13.9
1,000,000 and over (Group I subset)	Offenses known	125,257	1,851	5,328	57,173	60,905	647,572	141,606	380,830	125,136	5,643	8	14,175,600
1,000,000 and over (Group I subset)	Percent cleared by arrest	34.6	62.9	46.4	23.6	43.1	12.1	8.0	14.6	9.1	11.4
500,000 to 999,999 (Group I subset)	Offenses known	155,793	2,176	6,650	60,234	86,733	813,306	182,966	496,588	133,752	5,824	23	15,106,797
500,000 to 999,999 (Group I subset)	Percent cleared by arrest	36.9	54.6	39.6	21.4	46.9	11.7	9.1	13.3	9.5	16.8
250,000 to 499,999 (Group I subset)	Offenses known	120,468	1,545	6,090	46,881	65,952	642,947	144,891	392,966	105,090	5,544	38	13,157,104
250,000 to 499,999 (Group I subset)	Percent cleared by arrest	38.2	58.3	38.2	22.7	48.7	14.3	11.0	16.8	9.3	13.5
GROUP II (100,000 to 249,999)	Offenses known	167,798	2,233	9,895	59,741	95,929	1,145,420	248,738	752,558	144,124	7,256	176	26,512,873
GROUP II (100,000 to 249,999)	Percent cleared by arrest	41.8	57.4	39.0	25.7	51.7	15.8	11.1	18.4	10.2	17.3
GROUP III (50,000 to 99,999)	Offenses known	140,491	1,396	9,334	45,733	84,028	1,098,380	231,520	753,582	113,278	7,166	442	30,409,056
GROUP III (50,000 to 99,999)	Percent cleared by arrest	44.3	60.5	34.3	27.7	54.1	18.1	12.8	20.7	11.6	17.2
GROUP IV (25,000 to 49,999)	Offenses known	95,890	870	7,550	28,170	59,300	864,244	171,348	622,825	70,071	5,270	744	25,659,304
GROUP IV (25,000 to 49,999)	Percent cleared by arrest	47.9	68.0	36.1	30.4	57.4	19.0	12.7	21.4	13.7	20.9
GROUP V (10,000 to 24,999)	Offenses known	83,703	749	6,979	20,728	55,247	817,941	162,736	599,026	56,179	4,628	1,627	25,851,590
GROUP V (10,000 to 24,999)	Percent cleared by arrest	51.8	71.6	39.5	32.8	60.2	20.6	14.9	22.4	18.1	23.7
GROUP VI (under 10,000)	Offenses known	69,361	534	5,820	11,747	51,260	720,578	136,526	544,705	39,347	4,438	6,948	21,723,351
GROUP VI (under 10,000)	Percent cleared by arrest	56.3	70.6	39.1	34.0	63.1	19.7	16.1	20.3	23.1	26.0
METROPOLITAN COUNTIES	Offenses known	213,587	2,631	14,854	49,200	146,902	1,542,755	390,028	978,492	174,235	12,542	1,722	63,834,694
METROPOLITAN COUNTIES	Percent cleared by arrest	50.3	60.7	43.5	27.5	58.4	16.2	13.3	17.5	15.1	17.9
NONMETROPOLITAN COUNTIES	Offenses known	54,982	826	6,240	4,142	43,774	423,172	136,444	253,026	33,702	3,937	2,380	25,683,887
NONMETROPOLITAN COUNTIES	Percent cleared by arrest	57.4	70.9	44.2	39.4	60.7	17.1	15.4	17.1	23.7	23.7
SUBURBAN AREA²	Offenses known	363,854	3,885	26,392	90,095	243,482	3,059,255	678,307	2,087,106	293,842	21,290	7,394	115,023,793
SUBURBAN AREA²	Percent cleared by arrest	50.6	62.4	41.6	29.1	59.4	17.6	13.6	19.3	15.2	20.0

¹ Not all agencies submit reports for arson to the FBI. As a result, the number of reports the FBI uses to compute the percent of offenses cleared for arson is less than the number it uses to compute the percent of offenses cleared for all other offenses.
² Suburban area includes law enforcement agencies in cities with less than 50,000 inhabitants and county law enforcement agencies that are within a Metropolitan Statistical Area. Suburban area excludes all metropolitan agencies associated with a principal city. The agencies associated with suburban areas also appear in other groups within this table.

Data Declaration

Provides the methodology used in constructing this table and other pertinent information about this table.

Overview

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In 2007, law enforcement agencies nationwide collectively cleared 44.5 percent of violent crimes and 16.5 percent of property crimes.
Of the violent crimes, law enforcement agencies nationwide cleared 61.2 percent of murder offenses, 40.0 percent of forcible rapes, 25.9 percent of robberies, and 54.1 percent of aggravated assaults.
Of the property crimes, law enforcement agencies nationwide cleared 12.4 percent of burglary offenses, 18.6 percent of larceny-thefts, and 12.6 percent of motor vehicle thefts.
In 2007, law enforcement agencies nationwide cleared 18.3 percent of arson offenses.
Law enforcement agencies in the Nation’s smallest cities, those with less than 10,000 inhabitants, had the highest percentage of clearances for violent crimes— 56.3 percent. Agencies in cities with populations of 10,000 to 24,999 cleared the highest percentage of property crimes—20.6 percent.
Agencies in cities with populations of less than 10,000 had the highest percentages of clearances among city groups for five of the eight offenses for which clearance data were reported: robbery, 34.0 percent; aggravated assault, 63.1 percent; burglary, 16.1 percent; motor vehicle theft, 23.1 percent; and arson, 26.0 percent.
Law enforcement agencies in cities with populations of 10,000 to 24,999 had the highest percentages of clearances among city groups for two of the eight offenses for which clearance data were reported: murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, 71.6 percent; and larceny-theft, 22.4 percent.
The highest percentage of forcible rape clearances (41.2 percent) among the six city population groups were reported in cities with populations of 250,000 and over.
Law enforcement agencies in metropolitan counties reported clearing 60.7 percent of murders and nonnegligent manslaughters and 58.4 percent of aggravated assaults.
Nonmetropolitan counties reported clearing 70.9 percent of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter offenses and 60.7 percent of aggravated assault offenses.