Which term describes the percentage rate of crimes known to the police that are solved through an arrest?

• A. Arrest rate
• B. Clearance rate
• C. Solved rate
• D. Case closure rate

Answer: (B)

The main idea here is how police measure success in solving crimes relative to what they know about. The term that describes the percentage of offenses known to the police that are solved through an arrest is clearance rate. Clearance rate captures the idea of a case being “cleared” when an offender is arrested, charged, and handed over to the courts (or cleared by exceptional means), so it directly links solving the crime to an arrest. It’s the standard metric because it ties the notion of solving to formal action and disposition, not just the number of arrests made. Other terms like arrest rate focus on how many arrests occur, which doesn’t necessarily reflect whether those offenses are actually cleared, and “solved rate” or “case closure rate” aren’t the conventional metrics used to describe the proportion of known offenses that are cleared by arrest.