The Meaning of Missing: The Hidden Power of Police Data Recording Practices in Rape Cases

Missing values represent a major weakness of police-recorded crime data. This article examines missing data in rape cases recorded by five police forces in England and Wales between January 2018 and December 2020. A thematic analysis of semistructured interviews with police practitioners reveals factors that influence missing information in police datasets, and quantitative data analyses explore the volume and patterns of missing data across cases defined by different victim, suspect, and offense characteristics. Finally, we investigate the impact of missing data on outcomes of police investigations. We find that missing data is partly explained by victim, suspect, and case characteristics and is also associated with outcomes.