An Empirical Study on the Decision-Making Process of Investigation-Initiation and Solvability Factors in Criminal Cases

An Empirical Study on the Decision-Making Process of Investigation-Initiation and Solvability Factors in Criminal Cases

The purpose of this study is to investigate how police detectives prioritize criminal cases, and what factors they consider in solving any given case in Taiwan. Factors related to the decision-making process of investigation initiation include: the seriousness of the offense, order from higher-ranking officers, media sensibility, etc. Convincing evidence, a suspect's confession, qualified/trained detectives, and cooperation among staff are identified as possible solvability factors in the study. The criminal cases in the study are limited to homicide, sexual assault and theft. The study sent questionnaires to 26 Criminal Investigation Divisions of each individual county-level police department in Taiwan, the Republic of China (ROC) between July 1 and August 15, 2003. In all, 1,072 police detectives were surveyed. Homicide, kidnapping, robbery, weapon use, and sexual assault were the most important criminal cases that the detectives initiated response to. On the other hand, cases of vandalism, anti-intellectual property, gambling, simple assault, and fraud tend to be suspended by the detectives, and will not dealt with actively. The critical factors influencing the decision to initiate an investigation are ranked accordingly as: the social harm, order from higher-ranking officers, the extent of damage, rewards and punishments, and media sensibility. For homicide case cleared, the important/critical factors are in order of importance: the weight of collected evidence, the presence of an eye-witness, the quality and experience of detectives, qualified forensic science personnel, and the a well-constructed criminal database. For sexual offense cases cleared, the important factors in order of importance are: the weight of collected evidence, the completeness of the DNA database, the victim's report, the relationship between offender and victim, the experience and quality of detectives. For thefts cleared, the important/critical factors are as follows: the weight of collected evidence, control of the fence, the suspects continued use of the stolen goods, the experience and quality of detectives, qualified forensic science personnel. To improve the quality of crime detection, the detectives' viewpoints argue that efforts should be made to promote the effectiveness of forensic science, provide advanced equipment for detection, reinforce legal training, increase official pay, and create specialized crime detection divisions.