Title

Social Disorganization And Unfounded Sexual Assault Case Clearances

Keywords

Collective efficacy; Criminal investigations; Police; Sexual assault; Social disorganization

Abstract

Despite much research and policy development, it remains true that less than one half of all reported sexual assaults are cleared by arrest (Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI], 2011). Compounding this issue, many sexual assaults are not cleared by an arrest, but rather by being classified as "unfounded" by law enforcement (Soulliere, 1994, 2005; Tellis &Spohn, 2008). Grounded in the social disorganization perspective, this article examines the relationships between case-related and extralegal community-level characteristics and use of the designation of unfounded by the police. Contrary to initial expectations, findings show that communities with higher levels of concentrated disadvantage, immigrant concentration, and residential instability are less likely to have sexual assaults deemed unfounded by law enforcement. © 2013 Springer Publishing Company.

Publication Date

1-1-2013

Publication Title

Violence and Victims

Volume

28

Issue

1

Number of Pages

90-102

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1891/0886-6708.28.1.90

Socpus ID

84877098863 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/84877098863

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