Table 26

Percent of Offenses Cleared by Arrest or Exceptional Means
by Geographic Region and Division, 2007

Geographic region/division		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
NORTHEAST	Offenses known	147,529	1,717	9,426	51,782	84,604	994,011	198,031	706,050	89,930	6,757	2,979	43,922,345
NORTHEAST	Percent cleared by arrest	49.7	60.2	44.5	29.4	62.5	19.3	15.0	21.1	15.1	24.0
NEW ENGLAND	Offenses known	42,504	336	3,192	11,478	27,498	319,479	66,827	224,014	28,638	1,917	879	13,728,000
NEW ENGLAND	Percent cleared by arrest	47.6	50.9	30.1	25.1	59.0	14.6	11.8	16.0	10.6	20.2
MIDDLE ATLANTIC	Offenses known	105,025	1,381	6,234	40,304	57,106	674,532	131,204	482,036	61,292	4,840	2,100	30,194,345
MIDDLE ATLANTIC	Percent cleared by arrest	50.5	62.5	51.8	30.7	64.1	21.5	16.7	23.4	17.2	25.5
MIDWEST	Offenses known	189,328	2,208	15,874	57,372	113,874	1,550,436	337,686	1,063,932	148,818	13,210	3,535	47,741,064
MIDWEST	Percent cleared by arrest	39.2	55.7	31.4	22.1	48.6	16.2	10.6	18.5	12.7	16.3
EAST NORTH CENTRAL	Offenses known	126,607	1,620	11,144	43,706	70,137	985,904	228,496	654,586	102,822	8,992	1,689	29,447,646
EAST NORTH CENTRAL	Percent cleared by arrest	34.1	50.5	29.7	20.6	42.8	14.9	9.6	17.3	11.2	15.1
WEST NORTH CENTRAL	Offenses known	62,721	588	4,730	13,666	43,737	564,532	109,190	409,346	45,996	4,218	1,846	18,293,418
WEST NORTH CENTRAL	Percent cleared by arrest	49.5	70.1	35.1	26.6	57.9	18.6	12.7	20.5	16.0	18.6
SOUTH	Offenses known	575,695	7,311	32,836	171,372	364,176	3,956,202	951,538	2,625,519	379,145	22,959	5,678	103,362,286
SOUTH	Percent cleared by arrest	45.5	65.3	44.3	26.2	54.3	17.1	13.1	18.8	15.3	20.0
SOUTH ATLANTIC	Offenses known	318,845	3,970	15,516	99,040	200,319	2,058,093	487,420	1,362,719	207,954	12,286	2,860	55,031,012
SOUTH ATLANTIC	Percent cleared by arrest	47.0	63.5	48.2	26.9	56.5	18.4	14.9	20.0	15.9	20.8
EAST SOUTH CENTRAL	Offenses known	76,720	979	4,990	21,839	48,912	534,478	135,470	355,143	43,865	2,229	1,140	14,645,882
EAST SOUTH CENTRAL	Percent cleared by arrest	46.1	64.5	36.5	25.9	55.7	16.8	11.7	18.8	16.5	18.2
WEST SOUTH CENTRAL	Offenses known	180,130	2,362	12,330	50,493	114,945	1,363,631	328,648	907,657	127,326	8,444	1,678	33,685,392
WEST SOUTH CENTRAL	Percent cleared by arrest	42.7	68.7	42.4	25.1	49.9	15.2	10.9	17.0	13.9	19.4
WEST	Offenses known	314,778	3,575	20,604	103,223	187,376	2,215,666	459,548	1,379,097	377,021	19,322	1,916	67,088,561
WEST	Percent cleared by arrest	43.4	56.8	37.8	25.9	53.5	14.5	11.4	17.0	9.1	15.6
MOUNTAIN	Offenses known	89,648	1,064	7,534	23,737	57,313	715,815	150,033	458,762	107,020	4,900	774	20,440,983
MOUNTAIN	Percent cleared by arrest	43.7	60.9	31.6	21.8	54.0	15.1	9.1	18.1	10.5	19.7
PACIFIC	Offenses known	225,130	2,511	13,070	79,486	130,063	1,499,851	309,515	920,335	270,001	14,422	1,142	46,647,578
PACIFIC	Percent cleared by arrest	43.3	55.0	41.3	27.1	53.2	14.2	12.5	16.4	8.6	14.2

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.

Data Declaration

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

Overview

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Nationwide in 2007, law enforcement agencies cleared 44.5 percent of violent crimes by arrest or by exceptional means. By region, law enforcement agencies in the Northeast cleared 49.7 percent of their violent crimes; in the South, 45.5 percent; in the West, 43.4 percent; and in the Midwest, 39.2 percent.
In 2007, law enforcement agencies in the Nation cleared 16.5 percent of property crime offenses by arrest or by exceptional means. By region, agencies in the Northeast cleared 19.3 percent of the property crime offenses; agencies in the South cleared 17.1 percent. Agencies in the Midwest and West cleared 16.2 percent and 14.5 percent of property crime offenses, respectively.
Of the Nation’s four regions, law enforcement agencies in the South cleared the highest percentage of murder offenses (65.3 percent). Law enforcement agencies in the Northeast cleared the highest percentage of forcible rape offenses (44.5 percent), robbery offenses (29.4 percent), and aggravated assault offenses (62.5 percent).
Of the Nation’s four regions, law enforcement agencies in the Northeast cleared the highest percentage of two of the three property crimes: 15.0 percent of burglaries and 21.1 percent of larceny-thefts. Law enforcement agencies in the South cleared the highest percentage (15.3 percent) of motor vehicle theft offenses.
Law enforcement agencies in the Northeast cleared the highest percentage (24.0 percent) of arson offenses.