
DATE: Sunday, October 5, 1997               TAG: 9710060236

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: THE WASHINGTON POST 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   70 lines

NATIONWIDE MURDER RATE DIPS TO A LEVEL NOT SEEN SINCE 1960S NATIONALLY, VIOLENT AND PROPERTY CRIMES HAVE DROPPED FOR FIVE YEARS IN A ROW.

The nation's murder rate is lower now than at any point since the late 1960s, and other serious crime also is continuing to decline, the FBI reported Saturday.

For the fifth consecutive year, violent crime and property crime have dropped nationwide, including in most large cities. However, the FBI said crime rose 1 percent last year in the South.

Nationwide, murders declined 9 percent last year, with 19,645 people slain. The murder rate, now 7.4 incidences for every 100,000 people, is 17 percent lower than in 1992.

Overall, violent crime dropped 6 percent last year, according to the final version of an annual FBI report; preliminary numbers were released this summer.

Many law enforcement officials and criminologists say the progress on crime is the result of several converging trends: growing police crackdowns on minor crimes, tougher prison sentences, and the aging of a large segment of the population. The Clinton administration, meanwhile, called the FBI report clear evidence that its anti-crime policies, which include giving communities more money to hire police officers, are working.

``These numbers show that escalating crime is not an unsolvable problem,'' Attorney General Janet Reno said. She also announced last week that the violent crime arrest rate among juveniles nationally decreased by 9 percent last year.

But some analysts contend the good news about crime still should be treated with caution because it could be due mostly to a demographic fluke - a nationwide decline in the population of juveniles and young adults, who commit a substantial portion of crime. By the middle of the next decade, however, the size of that group will grow by 15 percent, and some officials are worried it will drive crime rates up again.

The FBI's report shows violent crime dropped in every category last year. Rape declined by 2 percent, robbery by 7 percent and aggravated assault by 6 percent. Yet even though those rates have slumped to their lowest level this decade, they are still 13 percent higher than in 1987, the FBI said.

The news is similar for property crimes. Reported incidences of arson, vehicle theft and larceny are all declining. The number of burglaries was the lowest in 20 years. Much of the progress apparently is being made in the nation's largest cities. Serious crime there dropped 5 percent last year. The FBI also reported that crime is down the most in the West - 8 percent.

On murder, the report noted that most victims were adult males, and that the percentage of white and black victims was equal at 49 percent. Also, more than 50 percent of murder victims last year knew their assailants, and a large percentage of female victims - 30 percent - were killed by husbands or boyfriends. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

HIGHLIGHTS

Highlights of U.S. crime statistics released by the FBI for 1996,

with comparison to 1995 and crime rate per 100,000 people (100,000

women for forcible rapes).

13.5 million crimes, down 3 percent; 5,079.

1.7 million violent crimes, down 6.5 percent; 634.

19,645 murders, down 9 percent; 7.4.

11.8 million property crimes, down 2 percent; 4,445.

95,769 forcible rapes, down 2 percent; 71.

537,050 robberies, down 7 percent; 202.

2.5 million burglaries, down 3.6 percent; 943.

1 million aggravated assaults, down 1 percent; 388.