The author(s) shown below used Federal funding provided by the U.S. Department of Justice to prepare the following resource: Document Title: The Impact of Forensic Evidence on Arrest and Prosecution Author(s): David A. Schroeder, Ph.D., Kristin Elink- Schuurman-Laura, M.S. Document Number: 250721 Date Received: August 2017 Award Number: 2011-DN-BX-0003 This resource has not been published by the U.S. Department of Justice. This resource is being made publically available through the Office of Justice Programs’ National Criminal Justice Reference Service. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. The Impact of Forensic Evidence on Arrest and Prosecution National Institute of Justice #2011-2822 Principle Investigator David A. Schroeder, Ph.D.1 Senior Research Associate Kristin Elink-Schuurman-Laura, M.S. University of New Haven Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences The authors also wish to acknowledge Deputy Director of the Quality Assurance Unit of the Connecticut Superior Court Operations Division, Joseph Greelish; Former Director of the Connecticut Forensic Science Laboratory, Dr. Ken Zercie; current Director of the Connecticut Forensic Science Laboratory, Dr. Guy Valaro; Lecturer for the Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice & Forensic Sciences, Peter Massey; and the Connecticut State Police and all the contributing Chiefs of Police across the State of Connecticut, for their assistance in collecting all of the necessary data for this research. This project was supported by Award Number 2011-DN-BX-0003 awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The points of view in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. 1. Contact information: 300 Boston Post Rd, West Haven, CT 06516 Tel: 203-931-2959 Email: [email protected] i List of Tables Table 1.1: Crime rates and crime lab submissions (2006-2009) Table 1.2: Most commonly collected evidence by offense Table 1.3: Forensic evidence stages by offense Table 2.1: Sample size by crime type and phase Table 2.2: Connecticut and national crime rates and case clearance Table 9.1: Usefulness of FAPE Table 9.2: Using FAPE Table 9.3: Prosecutors and FAPE Table A.1: Logistic Regression Predictors Table A.2: OLS sentence length predictors Table B.1: Descriptive characteristics of assault incidents Table B.2: Descriptive characteristics of burglary incidents Table B.3: Descriptive characteristics of robbery incidents Table B.4: Descriptive characteristics of rape incidents Table B.5: Descriptive characteristics of homicide incidents Table C.1: Evidence type-assault Table C.2: Evidence type-burglary Table C.3: Evidence type-robbery Table C.4: Evidence type-rape Table C.5: Evidence type-homicide Table E.1: Arrest Table F.1: Assault convictions Table F.2: Burglary convictions Table F.3: Robbery convictions Table F.4: Rape convictions Table F.5: Homicide convictions Table G.1: Assault sentencing Table G.2: Burglary sentencing Table G.3: Robbery sentencing Table G.4: Rape sentencing Table G.5: Homicide sentencing Table H.1: Timeliness of evidence Table H.2: Arrest and timeliness Table 3: Convictions and timeliness ii List of Figures Figure 9.1: Mode rating of usefulness for solving cases Figure 9.2: Percentages of solved cases by evidence type Figure D.1: Assault case flow Figure D.2: Burglary case flow Figure D.3: Robbery case flow Figure D.4: Rape case flow Figure D.5: Homicide case flow iii Contents List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. ii List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ iii Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Methodology ................................................................................................................................... 7 Crime Rate .................................................................................................................................. 8 Forensic Services ........................................................................................................................ 9 Analytical Strategy.................................................................................................................... 10 Assault........................................................................................................................................... 12 Physical Evidence Submitted, Examined & Reported .............................................................. 12 Tracking Cases through the Justice System .............................................................................. 12 Predictors of Criminal Justice Outcomes .................................................................................. 13 Arrest..................................................................................................................................... 13 Conviction ............................................................................................................................. 13 Plea/Trial ............................................................................................................................... 14 Sentencing ............................................................................................................................. 14 Hard to Solve Cases .................................................................................................................. 14 Time and Evidence Types ......................................................................................................... 14 Burglary ........................................................................................................................................ 16 Physical Evidence Submitted, Examined, and Reported .......................................................... 16 iv Tracking Cases through the Justice System .............................................................................. 16 Predictors of Criminal Justice Outcomes .................................................................................. 17 Arrest..................................................................................................................................... 17 Plea/Trial ............................................................................................................................... 17 Sentencing ............................................................................................................................. 17 Hard to Solve Cases (stranger and no witnesses) ..................................................................... 18 Time and Evidence Type .......................................................................................................... 18 Robbery ......................................................................................................................................... 19 Physical Evidence Examined, Submitted & Reported .............................................................. 19 Tracking Cases Through the Justice System ............................................................................ 19 Predictors of Criminal Justice Outcomes .................................................................................. 19 Arrest..................................................................................................................................... 19 Conviction ............................................................................................................................. 19 Plea/Trial ............................................................................................................................... 20 Sentencing ............................................................................................................................. 20 Hard to Solve Cases .................................................................................................................. 20 Time and Evidence Types ......................................................................................................... 20 Rape .............................................................................................................................................. 22 Physical Evidence Submitted, Examined & Reported .............................................................. 22 Tracking Cases Through the Justice System ............................................................................ 22 v Predictors of Criminal Justice Outcomes .................................................................................. 22 Arrest..................................................................................................................................... 22 Conviction ............................................................................................................................. 23 Plea/Trial ............................................................................................................................... 23 Sentencing 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