Innovative strategies can be utilized to investigate unsolved homicides, particularly through translational criminology. We present a case study of a collaboration developed between faculty and students in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University and Michigan State Police’s First District in Lansing, Michigan. We highlight the benefits of including academics and students in these investigations and explore and critique the methodology we utilized to review a 41-year-old cold case homicide. We argue that these teams are a valuable resource with implications for the criminal justice system, the legitimacy of law enforcement, and the victims and their families.
AdcockJ. M.SteinS. L. (2014). Cold cases (2nd ed.). Taylor & Francis.
3.
BradleyD.NixonC. (2009). Ending the ‘dialogue of the deaf’: Effective policing policies and practices. An Australian case study. Police Practice and Research, 10(5–6), 423–435.
4.
BurkhardtB. C.AkinsS.SassamanJ.JacksonS.ElwerK.LanfearC.AmorimM.StevensK. (2017). University researcher and law enforcement collaboration: Lessons from a study of justice-involved persons with suspected mental illness. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 61(5), 508–525.
5.
CordnerG.WhiteS. (2010). The evolving relationship between police research and police practice. Police Practice and Research: An International Journal, 11(2), 90–94.
6.
DavisR. C.JensenC. J.IIIBurgetteL.BurnettK. (2014). Working smarter on cold cases: Identifying factors associated with successful cold case investigations. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 59(2), 375–382.
7.
DulJ.HakT. (2008). Case study methodology in business research. Routledge.
8.
EbneyaminiS.MoghadamM. R. S. (2018). Toward developing a framework for conducting case study research. International Journal of Qualitative Research, 17(1), 1–11.
9.
EngelR. S.WhalenJ. L. (2010). Police-academic partnerships: Ending the dialogue of the deaf, the cincinnati experience. Police Practice and Research, 11(2), 105–116.
10.
FoxB.MileyL. N.AllenS.BonessJ.DodgeC.KhachatryanN.LyleM.McKinleyS.PeakeJ.RozoM. (2020). Law enforcement and academics working together on cold case investigations: Lessons learned and paths forward. Journal of Criminal Psychology, 10(2), 93–111.
11.
FyfeN. R.WilsonP. (2012). Knowledge exchange and police practice: Broadening and deepening the debate around researcher-practitioner collaborations. Police Practice and Research, 13(4), 306–314.
12.
GayadeenS. M.PhillipsS. W.SobolJ. J. (2022). Further mitigating the Academic-Law Enforcement Research Divide. Journal of Applied Social Science, 16(1), 305–317.
13.
GoodeJ.LumsdenK. (2018). The McDonaldisation of police–academic partnerships: Organisational and cultural barriers encountered in moving from research on police to research with police. Policing and Society, 28(1), 75–89.
14.
GrossB. (2007). Life sentence: Co-victims of homicide. Annals of the American Psychotherapy Association, 10(3), 39–44.
15.
HansenJ. A.AlpertG. P.RojekJ. J. (2014). The benefits of police practitioner–researcher partnerships to participating agencies. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, 8(4), 307–320.
16.
KilpatrickD. G.AciernoR. (2003). Mental health needs of crime victims: Epidemiology and outcomes. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 16(2), 119–132.
17.
MacDonaldB. (1986). Research and action in the context of policing: An analysis of the problem and a programme proposal. Unpublished document of the Police Foundation of England and Wales, on file with the D. Bayley.
18.
MardigianR. S.DepueR. L. (2016). Cold case investigation. In Practical Aspects of Rape Investigation (pp. 199–210). CRC Press.
19.
National Institute of Justice/United States Department of Justice. (2019). National best practices for implementing and sustaining a cold case unit. Author.
RegoecziW. C.JarvisJ.RiedelM. (2008). Clearing murders: Is it about time?Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 45(2), 142–162.
22.
SteinheiderB.WuestewaldT.BoyatzisR. E.KroutterP. (2012). In search of a methodology of collaboration: Understanding researcher–practitioner philosophical differences in policing. Police Practice and Research, 13(4), 357–374.
WaltonR. H. (Ed.) (2017). Cold case homicides: Practical investigative techniques. CRC Press. (Original work published 2006)
25.
WellmanA. P.MeitlM. B. (2021). Exploring cold case survivors’ perceptions of and experiences with law enforcement. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 36(23–24), 11553–11575.
26.
YinR. K. (2003). Case study research: Design and methods. SAGE.
27.
YuH. H. (2017). Post-Executive Order 13583: A re-examination of occupational barriers in federal law enforcement. Women and Criminal Justice, 27(4), 205–218.
28.
YuH. H. (2020). Effective academic–practitioner collaboration on gender research in federal law enforcement: The value of a coproduction process. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 86(3), 567–581.
