Table 25

Percent of Offenses Cleared by Arrest or Exceptional Means
by Population Group, 2005

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	2005 estimated population
TOTAL ALL AGENCIES:	Offenses known	1,197,089	14,430	82,118	353,050	747,491	8,935,714	1,906,980	5,915,843	1,112,891	64,231	13,441	255,115,278
TOTAL ALL AGENCIES:	Percent cleared by arrest	45.5	62.1	41.3	25.4	55.2	16.3	12.7	18.0	13.0	17.9
TOTAL CITIES	Offenses known	934,954	11,125	60,170	304,134	559,525	6,961,634	1,392,315	4,683,212	886,107	46,897	9,618	167,119,985
TOTAL CITIES	Percent cleared by arrest	42.9	60.7	39.8	24.9	52.7	16.2	12.2	18.3	11.9	17.3
GROUP I (all cities 250,000 and over)	Offenses known	408,875	5,783	19,367	156,850	226,875	2,206,861	464,882	1,326,142	415,837	18,801	67	41,685,502
GROUP I (all cities 250,000 and over)	Percent cleared by arrest	36.2	56.5	39.0	21.2	45.8	12.5	10.2	14.2	9.4	12.6
1,000,000 and over (Group 1 subset)	Offenses known	127,623	1,904	5,681	53,623	66,415	669,625	135,906	394,296	139,423	6,045	8	13,896,753
1,000,000 and over (Group 1 subset)	Percent cleared by arrest	34.9	61.1	43.5	21.7	44.1	12.2	10.4	14.2	8.2	8.9
500,000 to 999,999 (Group 1 subset)	Offenses known	149,233	2,120	6,724	55,512	84,877	809,352	175,359	486,968	147,025	6,122	22	14,422,520
500,000 to 999,999 (Group 1 subset)	Percent cleared by arrest	33.8	54.1	35.6	18.9	43.0	11.6	9.2	13.1	9.6	16.9
250,000 to 499,999 (Group 1 subset)	Offenses known	132,019	1,759	6,962	47,715	75,583	727,884	153,617	444,878	129,389	6,634	37	13,366,229
250,000 to 499,999 (Group 1 subset)	Percent cleared by arrest	40.2	54.5	38.7	23.4	50.6	13.6	11.2	15.4	10.4	11.8
GROUP II (100,000 to 249,999)	Offenses known	158,668	1,970	9,759	53,201	93,738	1,192,615	239,579	788,916	164,120	7,603	173	25,983,746
GROUP II (100,000 to 249,999)	Percent cleared by arrest	41.8	63.5	39.7	25.0	51.1	15.0	11.0	17.1	10.7	15.8
GROUP III (50,000 to 99,999)	Offenses known	133,966	1,362	9,855	40,637	82,112	1,107,071	226,543	758,923	121,605	6,596	416	28,490,290
GROUP III (50,000 to 99,999)	Percent cleared by arrest	46.0	58.1	38.3	28.3	55.5	17.3	12.2	19.7	11.8	18.3
GROUP IV (25,000 to 49,999)	Offenses known	90,994	835	7,926	25,096	57,137	886,669	169,837	637,075	79,757	5,348	714	24,684,401
GROUP IV (25,000 to 49,999)	Percent cleared by arrest	49.7	69.2	38.9	31.2	59.0	18.7	12.7	20.6	15.5	20.0
GROUP V (10,000 to 24,999)	Offenses known	75,281	643	7,218	17,675	49,745	828,044	155,566	611,433	61,045	4,405	1,597	25,289,898
GROUP V (10,000 to 24,999)	Percent cleared by arrest	54.0	74.2	42.0	33.8	62.7	21.0	15.6	22.5	19.1	26.4
GROUP VI (under 10,000)	Offenses known	67,170	532	6,045	10,675	49,918	740,374	135,908	560,723	43,743	4,144	6,651	20,986,148
GROUP VI (under 10,000)	Percent cleared by arrest	58.6	72.7	43.8	36.0	65.1	19.7	16.4	20.2	23.9	27.0
METROPOLITAN COUNTIES	Offenses known	208,839	2,422	15,576	45,051	145,790	1,551,069	378,400	981,519	191,150	13,365	1,598	63,038,742
METROPOLITAN COUNTIES	Percent cleared by arrest	53.1	63.2	45.1	27.1	61.8	16.0	13.5	17.0	15.5	18.0
NONMETROPOLITAN COUNTIES	Offenses known	53,296	883	6,372	3,865	42,176	423,011	136,265	251,112	35,634	3,969	2,225	24,956,551
NONMETROPOLITAN COUNTIES	Percent cleared by arrest	61.6	76.7	46.0	41.7	65.5	18.0	16.3	17.8	26.0	24.7
SUBURBAN AREA²	Offenses known	350,472	3,581	27,650	81,090	238,151	3,099,019	660,524	2,112,131	326,364	22,067	6,688	109,688,618
SUBURBAN AREA²	Percent cleared by arrest	52.9	65.0	43.6	29.0	61.9	17.4	13.8	18.8	15.8	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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Collectively in 2005, law enforcement agencies nationwide cleared 45.5 percent of violent crimes and 16.3 percent of property crimes.
Of the violent crimes, law enforcement agencies nationwide cleared 62.1 percent of the murder offenses, 41.3 percent of forcible rapes, 25.4 percent of robberies, and 55.2 percent of aggravated assaults.
Of the property crimes, law enforcement agencies nationwide cleared 12.7 percent of burglary offenses, 18.0 percent of larceny-thefts, and 13.0 percent of motor vehicle thefts.
In 2005, law enforcement agencies nationwide cleared 17.9 percent of arson offenses.
Of the six city population groups, law enforcement agencies in the Nation’s smallest cities, those with less than 10,000 inhabitants, had the highest percentage of clearances for several offense types—58.6 percent of violent crimes, 43.8 percent of forcible rapes, 36.0 percent of robbery offenses, 65.1 percent of aggravated assaults, 16.4 percent of larceny-thefts, and 23.9 percent of motor vehicle thefts.
Of the two county population groups, law enforcement agencies in nonmetropolitan law enforcement agencies cleared a higher percentage of violent crimes than did those in metropolitan counties: 61.6 percent versus 53.1 percent. The same can be said of property crimes: 18.0 percent versus 16.0 percent.