Examples of Exceptional Clearances

     Generally, an offense can be exceptionally cleared when it falls into one of the following categories.  The list is not, however, all-inclusive, and there may be other circumstances when a law enforcement agency is entitled to an exceptional clearance.

1. Suicide of the offender (the person responsible is dead).
2. Double murder (two person kill each other).
3. Deathbed confession (the person responsible dies after making the confession).
4. Offender killed by police or citizen.
5. Confession by offender already in your custody or serving sentence (this is actually a variation of a true clearance by arrest -the offender would not be "apprehended" but in most situations would be prosecuted on the new charge).
6. Offender prosecuted by state or local authorities in another city for a different offense or prosecuted in another city or state by the Federal government for an offense which may be the same (an attempt is made to return the offender for prosecution, but the other jurisdiction will not allow the release).
7. Extradition denied.
8. Victim refuses to cooperate in the prosecution (this action does not "unfound" the offense, and the answer must also be "yes" to the first three questions relating to exceptional clearances).
9. Warrant is outstanding for felon but before being arrested the offender dies, for instance, of natural causes, as a result of an accident, or is killed in the commission of another offense.
10. The handling of a juvenile offender either orally or by written notice to parents in instances involving minor offenses such as petty larceny.  No referral is made to juvenile court as a matter of publicly accepted law enforcement policy.

     It is recognized that departmental policy in various law enforcement agencies permits the discontinuance of investigation and the administrative closing of cases in which all investigation has been completed.  The administrative closing of a case or the "clearing" of it by departmental policy does not permit exceptionally clearing an offense unless all four questions mentioned earlier can be answered "yes".  The recovery of property does not clear a case for UCR purposes. 

See FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Handbook for more information.