ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 18, 1995 TAG: 9512180100
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
Murders reported to police plunged by 12 percent during the first half of this year, the sharpest decline since the FBI began keeping tabs on six-month reported crime totals in 1960, the bureau said Sunday.
The drop in murders was the most dramatic change in the FBI's preliminary figures for crimes reported to police during the first six months of this year, compared with the same period of 1994.
Experts attributed it to the aging of baby boomers, police efforts against drug gangs and their guns, and the development of stable turf agreements between drug traffickers.
There was a 1 percent decrease in overall reported crimes and a 5 percent drop in violent crimes. Those two declines were similar to the reductions in those categories during all of 1994.
Property crime remained unchanged.
Justice Department studies show more than half of all crimes, even violent ones, are not reported to the police. Murder, however, is thought to be the most fully reported crime.
Like last year, the biggest declines came in the largest cities - those with more than 1 million residents - where overall crime declined 6 percent in the first half of this year. Suburban areas showed no change overall, and rural areas recorded a 3 percent increase in overall crime.
In the 35 years the FBI has been keeping such records, the next largest drop in murders was 8.4 percent in 1976.
Murders were down 17 percent in cities of a million or more. ``The nine largest cities account for more than 25 percent of the nation's murders,'' said Alfred Blumstein, a professor at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh. ``What happens there can swamp whatever happens elsewhere.''
New York, for instance, showed a drop from 835 murders to 574, or more than 31 percent. Chicago's homicides declined from 478 to 388.
Homicides dropped 19 percent in suburbs and rose 3 percent in rural areas.
``In the big cities, that probably reflects the maturing of the drug markets,'' Blumstein said. Homicides grew in the 1980s as drug traffickers warred over turf and recruited teen-agers into their gangs.
``But as drug markets have matured, just like Mafia markets matured years ago, they have found ways to settle disputes without so much lethal violence,'' he said.
Attorney General Janet Reno gave part of the credit to the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration for "focusing on violent drug gangs [in] a partnership with local law enforcement, which may be limited in what it can do in tracing a gang beyond its jurisdiction.''
Most of the Virginia cities on the FBI's list reported decreases: Alexandria, Chesapeake, Norfolk, Richmond and Virginia Beach all reported fewer murders during the first half of 1995 than in 1994. Only Hampton and Portsmouth reported increases.
LENGTH: Medium: 59 linesby CNB