Could Your Police Department Be Inflating Rape Clearance Rates?

By Lena V. Groeger, ProPublica, Mark Fahey and Mark Greenblatt, Newsy, November 15, 2018

Many law enforcement agencies across the U.S. may be pumping up their reported rape clearance rates using a little-known category called "exceptional clearance," according to an analysis by Newsy, Reveal and ProPublica. The designation allows police to clear cases when they have enough evidence to make an arrest and know who and where the suspect is, but can’t make an arrest for reasons outside their control. Experts say it's supposed to be used sparingly. Methodology | Read our story about exceptional clearance →

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Provided Data

We requested clearance data from the internal case management systems of every police jurisdiction in the country serving a population of 300,000 or more. These agencies provided us with detailed records of each case and how it was cleared. Another agencies did not.

Sort by Total Clearance Rate

Sort by Exceptional Clearance Rate

Sort by Arrest Rate

100% of rape cases

Cases not cleared

Cases cleared by "exceptional clearance"

Cases cleared by arrest

Look up more than 100 of the largest police jurisdictions in the country to see their numbers →

Did Not Provide Data

These police jurisdictions did not provide the rape case data we requested. Some did not respond to our records requests while others said they were unable or unwilling to provide the data requested. In five cases, we were able to calculate their exceptional clearance rates using FBI data.

100% of rape cases

Cases not cleared

Cases cleared by "exceptional clearance"

Cases cleared by arrest

Cases not cleared

Cases reported cleared to FBI

Source: Released agency records obtained through Freedom of Information Requests; FBI Summary Uniform Crime Report data; FBI National Incident-Based Reporting system data.

Additional data reporting by Kenny Jacoby, Newsy, and Sophie Chou, ProPublica.