Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 3, 1993 TAG: 9310030144
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The dip in the overall rate offered little or no solace to the nation's crime experts. Indeed, by the FBI's estimates, an American now falls victim to violent crime every 22 seconds.
"Any reduction in reported crime is welcome, but the amount of violent crime and other grave offenses nationwide remains intolerable," said newly sworn-in FBI Director Louis Freeh. "Crime is shockingly high in a country where the rule of law should prevail."
The national decrease in eight major categories of crime monitored by the FBI averaged about 3 percent across the nation, but among them, violent crimes edged upward by 1 percent.
The increase in violent crime reflected a 2 percent rise in forcible rape and a 3 percent growth in aggravated assault; the numbers of murders and robberies, on the other hand, fell by 4 percent and 2 percent, respectively. Nationally, the murder rate last year dipped slightly to 23,760, or 9.3 for every 100,000 people.
University of Southern California Professor Marcus Felson, an expert on crime-rate trends, noted that yearly fluctuations aside, the overall crime rate remains three to four times higher than it was in the early 1960s. "It's really kind of a trivial blip," he said of the latest figures. "You'll find that most of these changes are small percentages and don't [persist] several years in a row."
Felson also said that the serious and violent crimes that people worry about most - murder, for instance - represent only a small fraction of the overall crime index. And the most common types of crimes, such as drunken driving, are not included at all.
Of the 14.44 million crimes tallied in the index nationwide, about one in seven, or 1.93 million, were violent - murder and non-negligent manslaughter; forcible rape; robbery and aggravated assault.
The remainder were property crimes, including burglary, larceny-theft and motor vehicle theft.
The circumstances, in most instances, had not changed much over the past five years. The most significant exception appeared to be juvenile gang killings, which - at 809 - were almost three times as high as in 1988.
Although murders by strangers tend to dominate headlines and drive public fears, Americans last year were three times more likely to be killed by relatives, friends, neighbors or acquaintances.
Firearms were the weapon of choice in two-thirds of all homicides, continuing a steady rise from three-fifths in 1988. More than half of all people arrested for murder were under 25 years old, while 90 percent were male.
By far, the most common form of violent crime - well over half - was aggravated assault. Although last year's rise was relatively small, the rate was 58 percent higher than a decade ago.
by CNB