How accurate is fingerprint matching, according to the studies
A 2011 double-blind test of more than 169 examiners put numbers on a method courts had relied on for a century — and the numbers cut both ways.
Malik JohnsonCrime
Crime covers offense patterns, charging and clearance data, victim outcomes and the criminology behind the numbers. Articles cite the data set, note its gaps, and avoid treating a single quarter as a trend. Written for reporters, analysts, policy staff and residents who want crime coverage with its arithmetic shown.
Crime coverage from Daily Detective News.
Why single-cause explanations of the crime drop rarely survive scrutiny
Per FBI published data, murder fell roughly 12 percent in 2023 and about 14 percent more in 2024 — and no single policy, policing change, or economic factor accounts for a decline that size across the whole country.
Malik JohnsonWhat clearance data shows about homicide cases going cold
Per FBI published data, roughly half of recent homicides were never cleared, and the cases that go unsolved cluster by victim, by place, and by a detective's first days on the file.
Malik JohnsonHow hate crime counts are collected, and why underreporting persists
The FBI's hate crime numbers are a voluntary patchwork: per the 2023 release, more than 11,800 incidents were reported — while hundreds of agencies, including entire state systems, submitted nothing at all.
Malik JohnsonWhat recidivism rates measure, and what the number misses
A recidivism rate is only as specific as its definition: per BJS's landmark studies, about 68 percent of released prisoners were arrested within three years — but arrests, convictions, and re-imprisonment tell three different stories.
Malik JohnsonHow seasonal patterns show up in crime data, and which ones hold
Decades of FBI records show violence and most property crime rising in summer and falling in winter — a pattern stable enough that analysts adjust for it before declaring any trend.
Malik JohnsonWhat cleared by exception means, and why the classification draws scrutiny
Exceptional clearance closes an offense with no arrest and no prosecution, on the agency's own judgment — a status researchers say is used unevenly enough to distort the clearance rates built on it.
Malik JohnsonHow crime statistics get revised, and why the estimates change
Published crime numbers are drafts, not verdicts: agencies amend submissions, the FBI re-estimates, and BJS redesigns — which is why a headline figure can move months after it is released.
Malik JohnsonWhy victimization surveys count crime that police data misses
The National Crime Victimization Survey interviews households directly, and its numbers routinely exceed police counts by a wide margin — the gap is a measurement fact, not an accusation.
Malik JohnsonWhat NIBRS data shows about property crime trends
Since the FBI retired its old summary counts, incident-based records have offered a sharper view of burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle theft — if readers know what the transition broke.
Malik Johnson