THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, February 2, 1995             TAG: 9502020375
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                         LENGTH: Medium:   55 lines

HIGHER HOMICIDE RISK IS SEEN FOR YOUNG, OLD

Preschoolers and older minority women are at increasing risk of being killed in an America where murder rates hover near record levels, according to a new private analysis.

Minority teenagers and young men have the nation's highest homicide rate, according to a study released Wednesday by the independent Population Reference Bureau. The study, ``Homicide in the United States: Who's At Risk,'' combed a half-century of data collected by the National Center for Health Statistics and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Seven of the 10 states with the highest per-capita murder rates are in the South.

Among the findings were that murder rates were up significantly for elderly minority women and preschoolers.

``We don't want to give the impression that every young child is at risk . of children,'' said Carol J. De Vita of the Population Reference Bureau.

Some of the increase may be a result of greater reporting of child-abuse cases, she said. ``Now when a child dies it's more likely to be investigated as an abuse death.''

But the figures do show a trend, De Vita concluded.

``Fatalities due to child abuse and neglect certainly have risen,'' said Joy Byers of the Chicago-based National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse.

Overall, De Vita said, the study found that America is maintaining a ``subculture of violence.''

There is a perception that crime has increased sharply in recent years, yet the current murder rate of 10.0 per 100,000 people is not so different from the 9.8 recorded in 1933, the first year for which reliable statistics are available, she said.

In between, was a period of lower homicide rates, held down by World War II and the boom of the 1950s, with murders increasing again in the early 1960s.

Now, murder among teenagers is at record levels, De Vita said. The growth in drugs and drug sales are a major reason, she speculated. ILLUSTRATION: BY STATE

Murder rates, per 100,000 people, for 1992.

[For a complete copy of the chart, see microfilm for this date.]

[Listings for North Carolina and Virginia, below.]

13. North Carolina......11.9

21. Virginia.............8.9

KEYWORDS: MURDER RATES STUDY HOMICIDE by CNB