THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 19, 1995 TAG: 9511200250
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: THE NEW YORK TIMES
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
The nation's overall crime rate dropped 2 percent in 1994, the third consecutive year it has fallen, with a 4 percent decrease in the rate of violent crimes, according to an annual report to be released by the FBI today.
The rate of violent crimes, which include murder, robbery, rape and assault, actually fell to its lowest level since 1989, the FBI reported, and the murder rate continued its recent decline, similarly sinking to its lowest level since 1989, 9 murders per 100,000 inhabitants.
The FBI data, part of the bureau's annual ``Uniform Crime Report,'' are the latest indication that crime rates are receding after surging in the mid-1980s and early 1990s with the epidemic of crack cocaine and the increasing use of guns by young people.
Law enforcement officials and criminologists agreed that the FBI data showed that innovative police strategies generally known as community policing were beginning to produce results across the country. But the experts disagreed on whether a long-term improvement in crime rates had begun or whether they were simply seeing a normal statistical reaction after years of sharp increases.
``What is interesting about the data is that the numbers are definitely going down and there is every reason to believe the data are accurate,'' said John J. DiIulio Jr., professor of politics and public affairs at Princeton University. DiIulio gave major credit to police leaders who had taken a more aggressive approach to their work.
But DiIulio cautioned, ``This is also the lull before the crime storm.''
The professor said the reason for his concern is ``40 million kids 10 years old and under'' who are about to become teenagers, the biggest group of adolescents in a generation, and many of them ``fatherless, godless and jobless.''
While it is true that the overall national number of violent crimes has been going down, DiIulio said, the decline masks a more important underlying trend.
The decrease has been largely accounted for by a steady decline in violent crimes by adults 24 years of age or older during the past 15 years.
But at the same time, the number of violent crimes, especially those committed with guns, has been increasing among younger and younger adolescents, and the number of teenagers is about to climb rapidly.
In a White House statement, President Clinton sought to give some of the credit for the reduced crime rates to his administration. He cited the Crime Act, which is intended to put 100,000 more police officers on the street, as well as his efforts to ban the sale of assault weapons and ensure passage of the Brady Bill, which requires a waiting period for handgun purchases. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
REGIONALLY
Percent change of major crimes reported to police in 1994
compared with the previous year:
Virginia -0.7
North Carolina +1.3
KEYWORDS: CRIME STATISTICS U.S. VIRGINIA
NORTH CAROLINA by CNB