consequences to the commission of crime. It was simply concluded that while specific punishments may be appropriate measures of retribution, they were not significant factors as deterrents.

The last factor is isolation. Simply put, this is removal from society because the individual has demonstrated he/she is a continuing threat to the community or the magnitude of their crime is so great that retribution requires the severest consequences. It is sometimes referred to as "incapacitation.'t

It is difficult to ascertain exactly who is committing crime based on things like arrest rates. The reality is that a very low percentage of crime results in "clearance." The Criminal Justice Statistics Center of the California Department of Justice defines "clearance" as:

An offense is cleared or "solved" for crime reporting purposes when at least one person is arrested, charged with the commission of the offense, and turned over to the court for prosecution or cited to juvenile authorities. In certain situations a clearance may be counted by "exceptional means" "When the police definitely know the identity of the offender, have enough information to support an arrest, and know the location of the offender but for some reason cannot take the offender into custody.

The term "clearance rate" means the "method used to determine the percentage of crimes cleared." The rate is based on the number of crimes reported." Using the California Crime Home as the basis for establishing the "clearance rate" for the crimes of willful homicide, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, and motor vehicle theft, California had a "clearance rate" of 25.3% in 1998. The FBI crime index, which also includes the crimes of larceny-theft and arson, shows a "clearance rate" of 21.1%. The clearance rate for burglary was 12.1% in 1998. This figure has changed very little in the last 10 years. The current "clearance rate" is 63.1% for homicide and 27.7% for robbery. The rates are higher with more serious crimes and particularly high with murder.

Because we do not convict every offender who commits every offense, we do not really know the demographics of crime. However, we can look at certain basic

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