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

DATE: Monday, May 22, 1995                   TAG: 9505220028
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                         LENGTH: Medium:   60 lines

SERIOUS CRIME FALLS FOR 3RD YEAR BUT MURDER RATE AMONG TEENS HAS SOARED SINCE '85

Violent and nonviolent crime reported to police dipped in 1994 for the third consecutive year, the FBI said Sunday. But experts said the figures conceal trouble ahead as teenage boys commit murder at alarming rates.

Police reports of seven major crimes dropped 3 percent compared to 1993.

Although declines occurred in every region of the country and in cities of almost every size, experts said the heartening statistics mask an explosion of gun murders by teenage boys.

``The overall crime rate hides the grim truth because it mixes together two crime trends going in opposite directions,'' said James Alan Fox, dean of the College of Criminal Justice at Northeastern University.

``The rate adults commit crime is dropping fast. The 76 million baby boomers, who dominate the numbers, are getting into middle age and are not so violent as when they were younger,'' Fox said. ``But the rate at which boys are committing crimes, particularly homicide, is skyrocketing.''

The FBI's preliminary annual report has no data on the age of offenders. But Fox said final FBI data from 1985-93 show that the number of adults age 25 or older committing murder decreased 20 percent. In the same period, homicides committed by 18- to 24-year-old males increased 65 percent and by 14- to 17-year-old males by 165 percent.

The problem is confined to boys with guns. The homicide rate among teenage girls has not risen.

``The age data are really scary,'' said James Fyfe, a professor of criminal justice at Temple University and a former New York City policeman. ``There's no question our harshness on crime has had some effect on the numbers, but it's minimal. . . . The trick is to make it not worthwhile. There's nothing that would make an average college student stick up a store because it will cost him all sorts of opportunities.'' ILLUSTRATION: Charts

THE GOOD NEWS: DECLINING RATES

SOURCE: FBI data from 1993 to 1994

Robbery: down 6%

Murder: down 5%

Rape: down 5%

Aggravated assault: down 2%

Burglary: down 5%

Motor vehicle theft: down 2%

Larceny-theft: down 1%

THE BAD NEWS: MURDER BY TEENS

SOURCE: FBI data from 1985 to 1993

Homicides by 18-to-24-year-old males: up 65%

Homicides by 14-to-17-year-old males: up 165%

KEYWORDS: MURDER RATE CRIME FBI STATISTICS by CNB