The Role Of Solvability Factors In Criminal Cases

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At times, criminal cases may seem to be open and shut. However, cases such as these rarely occur. Criminal investigations are time consuming. This process could take months, even years to complete, depending on the severity of the crime and other factors. Unfortunately, police officers and other members of law enforcement do not have a great deal of time to spend on just one case. This is how solvability factors come to light. First and foremost, solvability factors are aspects of a criminal case used to determine the likelihood of it being solved (Dempsey & Forst, 2016). In fact, crimes without a witness, victim who is willing to cooperate with authorities, a known suspect, or with an unidentifiable suspect are most likely not going to be solved (Dempsey & Forst, 2016). Interstate murders are an example of crimes that may never be solved. This type of murder lacks witnesses, suspects, physical evidence, and the location of where the crime originated. Furthermore, interstates connect states and are traveled by a great deal of people daily, which lessen the chance of these murders being solved. Secondly, solving a crime is complex. Criminal investigations are long and …show more content…

In crime drama shows, such as Criminal Minds, this process assists law enforcement with identifying apprehending the suspect 100% of the time. However, psychological profiling, in real crime cases, only assists agents with decreasing the number of suspects, not in identifying those unknown (Brandl, 2002). In fact, a statistical analysis was performed on psychological profiling by the FBI in 1984. The study concluded that 88 of the 192 cases, where this process was used, were solved (Brandl, 2002). However, psychological profiling assisted in solving only seventeen percent of the eighty-eight solved cases (Brandl, 2002). Therefore, this process is not as useful as television portrays it to

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