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Why Are Cases Cold

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION
In the world of criminal investigation time is of the essence and it is common knowledge in the police world that if a crime does not generate a substantial lead or some kind of solid evidence within the first 48 hours it is likely that it will remain unsolved. As this time passes, the case grows cold just as death turns our bodies cold. Cold cases are a huge problem in today's society. Why are they such a problem? Imagine being the family of the victim whose case has gone cold. Everyday you sit wondering what happened to your child or parent or relative. If a case remains cold the families of these victims will remain without any closure and will always feel a sense of hope and a sense of dread.
In 1992 forty-five percent of all murder cases in the United States remained unsolved(Ramsland, 2004). However as the years have passed, new technology has led to a number of old cold cases finally being solved. However, thousands of cases still remain sitting in back files waiting for justice. So why with all this new technology developing in the world today and all of these new resources available to us, do so many murder cases go unsolved? This is the question I intend to answer.

RESEARCH PROBLEM
Why do so many cases remain unsolved? This is a problem for everyone that has ever lost someone in life and for all the investigators and police men or women behind every unsolved case that have devoted much time and effort in trying to solve them. This problem can happen anytime and anywhere. Murders and crimes are committed everyday and not all of these murderers or criminals are caught, leaving the cases to remain unsolved. These crimes are committed in the smallest towns and in the largest towns. They can happen in the middle of the night or at nine o'clock in the morning. The main questions come down to how and why this problem occurs. I have deducted a number of reasons why so...

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