Within the UCR Program, law enforcement agencies can clear, or "close," offenses in one of two ways: by arrest or by exceptional means. Agencies may administratively close a case, but this does not necessarily mean that the agency can clear the offense for UCR purposes. To clear an offense within the Program's guidelines, the reporting agency must adhere to certain criteria, which are outlined in the following text. (Note: The UCR Program does not distinguish between offenses cleared by arrest and those cleared by exceptional means in its data presentations. The distinction is made solely for the purpose of a definition and not for data collection and publication.)
Expanded information regarding clearances for the offenses of forcible rape, robbery, burglary, motor vehicle theft, and arson may be found in Table 27, "Percent of Offenses Cleared by Arrest or Exceptional Means, Additional Information About Selected Offenses, by Population Group."
Arrest data are not on this page. In its calculations, the UCR Program counts the number of offenses that are cleared, not the number of arrestees.
Contact the Communications Unit of the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division via e-mail at cjis_comm@leo.gov or by telephone at (304) 625-4995.
Information is available regarding the UCR Program's statistical methodology and table construction.