According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports, in 2004 the national clearance rate was 62.6%. That’s up from 62.4 in 2003%.

However, in an FBI preliminary report, murder was up 2.1% nationally in the first six months of 2005 (with the greatest increase in the midwest, 4.9%). The year before, murder had gone down 5.7% nationally.

Other murder facts (I don’t have where I cut and pasted this from! I don’t know who to give credit, but it’s not me): “The summer months are the most popular month to be murdered. Saturday was the most popular day-of-the-week to be murdered, followed by Friday. Murder rates are higher in the afternoon than in the morning, but are highest at night.”

I just learned about this online tutorial about forensic DNA, Principles of Forensic DNA. It’s meant for prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges, but I’d be curious to hear how it is if anyone gives it a try.

If the police get the bad guys, then the attorneys go in for the kill.

(This picture was taken by an MIT student named Philip Guo in 2001.)

First there are the feds, the U. S. Attorneys who prosecute federal crimes (oh God, I sound like a Law and Order episode). From their website:

The United States Attorneys serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. They conduct most of the trial work in which the United States is a party, and they have three statutory responsibilities:

– The prosecution of criminal cases brought by the Federal government.
– The prosecution and defense of civil cases in which the United States is a party.
– The collection of debts owed the Federal government which are administratively uncollectible.

In New York there are four U.S. Attorneys. The Eastern District, which covers Brooklyn, the Southern District, which covers Manhattan, the Northern District (their office is in Syracuse) and the Western District (offices in Buffalo and Rochester.)

And then there are the local guys, the attorneys for New York City, the District Attorney and the ADAs (Assistant District Attorneys). In New York there are five DAs, one for each borough. In Manhattan, where I live, our DA is Robert Morgenthau. He’s something like 200 years old, but he’s so good we pray science will keep him alive forever.

There are so many websites I really don’t know where to begin. Here’s where you can find the office for your U. S. Attorney.

Here’s how they’re doing. Their felony conviction rate is slowly going up. Good work, attorneys!

I’m including the Brooklyn DA’s website because it’s actually well designed, and has a lot of useful information that’s easy to find.

One of the cases I wrote about involved a child, 14-year-old Christine Ann Diefenbach, who was murdered on Sunday, February 7, 1988. I can see why cases involving children get to detectives more. It’s simply unendurable.

While researching this case I spent some time on the Parents of Murdered Children (POMC) website. They have online forums where families can talk to each other. Coping with Anniversaries is one of the most active forums. At the time I wrote the book, a forum called Forgive the Murderer? was even more active, but the Anniversary discussion has since overtaken it. The Mother’s Grief topic had four times as many responses at the Father’s Grief topic, but now it has ten. Of course that’s a cultural reflection and not indicative of a father’s grief, which also includes an enormous amount of guilt. They are the protectors.

The POMC website contains a link to a particularly moving article about the subject called, A Grief Like No Other by Eric Schlosser. I recommend this article highly to anyone who is going through this, or is interested in learning more about the subject, and particularly to law enforcement, who must repeatedly face these families. They also feel like they are the protectors. Cold cases involving children are hard for everyone.