ABSTRACT

Homicide engenders broad moral concerns in society, and its aftermath can be understood as a barometer for criminal justice policy. Of all homicides committed, however, only some lead to arrest, to prosecution and ultimately to conviction in court. So far, no study has assessed the entire flow of homicide cases through the criminal justice system based on a nationwide sample. This study seeks to fill this empirical void by describing the entire flow of homicide cases and assessing the size of outflow at each stage of the criminal justice funnel in the Netherlands for a 20-year period. Our analysis highlights two main findings: First, the vast majority of suspects first identified by the police are ultimately sentenced for a homicide. Second, even in a country with low homicide rates and high rule of law indices, selection takes place at all stages of the criminal justice funnel. Whilst outflow mostly centres around exceptional clearance and legal factors, future work should assess the extent to which extra-legal characteristics play a role in crimes that are being investigated as potential homicides.

摘要

凶杀案在社会中引发了广泛的道德问题，其后果可以被理解为刑事司法政策的晴雨表。然而，在所有的凶杀案中，只有一些导致逮捕、起诉并最终在法庭上被定罪。迄今为止，还没有一项研究基于全国样本评估刑事司法系统中凶杀案的整个流程。本研究旨在通过描述凶杀案的整个流程并评估荷兰 20 年期间刑事司法漏斗每个阶段的流出规模来填补这一经验空白。我们的分析突出了两个主要发现：首先，警方首先确定的绝大多数嫌疑人最终因杀人罪被判刑。其次，即使在凶杀率低、法治指数高的国家，选择在刑事司法漏斗的所有阶段进行。虽然流出主要集中在例外许可和法律因素上，但未来的工作应评估法外特征在作为潜在凶杀案调查的犯罪中发挥作用的程度。