Table 26

Percent of Offenses Cleared by Arrest or Exceptional Means
by Geographic Region and Division, 2006

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	2006 estimated population
TOTAL ALL AGENCIES:	Offenses known	1,240,985	14,948	80,440	384,844	760,753	8,851,465	1,956,175	5,810,638	1,084,652	65,939	13,760	260,278,125
TOTAL ALL AGENCIES:	Percent cleared by arrest	44.3	60.7	40.9	25.2	54.0	15.8	12.6	17.4	12.6	18.0
NORTHEAST	Offenses known	155,536	1,810	9,626	56,044	88,056	1,016,894	200,501	716,830	99,563	7,104	2,882	43,895,527
NORTHEAST	Percent cleared by arrest	48.4	61.4	45.0	28.4	61.3	19.0	15.4	20.6	14.5	22.5
NEW ENGLAND	Offenses known	43,505	351	3,235	12,120	27,799	315,431	64,187	219,714	31,530	1,889	834	13,478,777
NEW ENGLAND	Percent cleared by arrest	46.2	56.1	33.6	24.8	56.9	14.2	12.0	15.3	10.4	19.1
MIDDLE ATLANTIC	Offenses known	112,031	1,459	6,391	43,924	60,257	701,463	136,314	497,116	68,033	5,215	2,048	30,416,750
MIDDLE ATLANTIC	Percent cleared by arrest	49.3	62.6	50.7	29.4	63.3	21.1	16.9	22.9	16.4	23.7
MIDWEST	Offenses known	196,174	2,336	16,199	60,678	116,961	1,617,882	347,773	1,100,943	169,166	13,896	3,433	47,475,585
MIDWEST	Percent cleared by arrest	38.4	51.9	31.8	21.0	48.1	15.2	10.8	17.1	12.0	16.0
EAST NORTH CENTRAL	Offenses known	127,263	1,658	11,762	44,247	69,596	1,014,429	229,868	669,257	115,304	8,884	1,633	29,043,228
EAST NORTH CENTRAL	Percent cleared by arrest	33.8	46.1	30.1	19.8	43.0	14.2	9.9	16.3	10.6	14.5
WEST NORTH CENTRAL	Offenses known	68,911	678	4,437	16,431	47,365	603,453	117,905	431,686	53,862	5,012	1,800	18,432,357
WEST NORTH CENTRAL	Percent cleared by arrest	46.9	66.1	36.3	24.2	55.5	16.9	12.5	18.4	14.9	18.6
SOUTH	Offenses known	571,133	6,987	33,681	164,820	365,645	3,903,094	930,054	2,577,729	395,311	23,718	5,544	102,628,486
SOUTH	Percent cleared by arrest	46.4	65.9	45.5	26.4	55.1	16.4	13.4	17.6	15.6	20.6
SOUTH ATLANTIC	Offenses known	318,720	3,779	16,293	95,288	203,360	2,039,482	477,258	1,343,453	218,771	12,057	2,796	55,059,190
SOUTH ATLANTIC	Percent cleared by arrest	47.9	64.2	49.7	26.9	57.3	17.5	15.1	18.6	16.2	21.9
EAST SOUTH CENTRAL	Offenses known	73,040	917	4,947	21,223	45,953	523,261	133,398	343,291	46,572	2,339	1,071	14,246,982
EAST SOUTH CENTRAL	Percent cleared by arrest	45.1	68.3	36.2	24.7	55.0	15.9	11.4	17.5	16.7	20.9
WEST SOUTH CENTRAL	Offenses known	179,373	2,291	12,441	48,309	116,332	1,340,351	319,398	890,985	129,968	9,322	1,677	33,322,314
WEST SOUTH CENTRAL	Percent cleared by arrest	44.1	67.5	43.7	25.9	51.3	14.8	11.6	16.1	14.2	18.9
WEST	Offenses known	318,142	3,815	20,934	103,302	190,091	2,313,595	477,847	1,415,136	420,612	21,221	1,901	66,278,527
WEST	Percent cleared by arrest	42.2	56.4	38.7	24.2	52.1	13.7	11.1	15.7	9.7	14.8
MOUNTAIN	Offenses known	90,580	1,073	7,723	23,557	58,227	745,583	154,462	469,147	121,974	5,362	765	19,991,251
MOUNTAIN	Percent cleared by arrest	42.7	59.8	32.6	21.2	52.4	14.1	9.3	16.6	10.6	19.7
PACIFIC	Offenses known	227,562	2,742	13,211	79,745	131,864	1,568,012	323,385	945,989	298,638	15,859	1,136	46,287,276
PACIFIC	Percent cleared by arrest	42.0	55.0	42.3	25.0	51.9	13.5	12.0	15.3	9.3	13.2

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 2006, law enforcement agencies cleared 44.3 percent of violent crimes by arrest or by exceptional means. By region, law enforcement agencies in the Northeast cleared 48.4 percent of their violent crimes; in the South, 46.4 percent; in the West, 42.2 percent; and in the Midwest, 38.4 percent.
In 2006, law enforcement agencies in the Nation cleared 15.8 percent of property crime offenses by arrest or by exceptional means. By region, agencies in the Northeast cleared 19.0 percent of the property crime offenses; agencies in the South cleared 16.4 percent. Agencies in the Midwest and West cleared 15.2 percent and 13.7 percent of property crime offenses, respectively.
Of the Nation’s four regions, law enforcement agencies in the Northeast cleared the highest percentage of robbery offenses (28.4 percent) and aggravated assault offenses (61.3 percent); law enforcement agencies in the South cleared the highest percentage of murder offenses (65.9 percent) and forcible rape offenses (45.5 percent).
Of the Nation’s four regions, law enforcement agencies in the Northeast cleared the highest percentage of two of the three property crimes: 15.4 percent of burglaries and 20.6 percent of larceny-thefts. Law enforcement agencies in the South cleared the highest percentage (15.6 percent) of motor vehicle theft offenses.
Law enforcement agencies in the Northeast cleared the highest percentage (22.5) of arson offenses