Monday, December 29, 2008

Upsurge in Murder Rates Among Black Youth While Overall Crimes Drops

According to the Boston AP, writer Jay Lindsay says a new study released today shows that the number of young black men and teenagers who either killed or were killed in shootings has risen at an alarming rate since 2000.

Among their findings: an increase of more than 39 percent in the number of black males between the ages of 14 and 17 killed between 2000 and 2007, and an increase of 34 percent in the number of blacks that age group who committed homicide. Guns are the weapon of choice.

The increases for white male teens age 14-17 during that same period were nearly 17 percent and 3 percent, respectively.

That said, the numbers represent a vast improvement over those from the 1990s when the emergence of crack cocaine fueled an explosion in violence, the Northeastern report said. In 1993, about 225 out of every 100,000 blacks age 14-17 committed homicide compared with 81 out of 100,000 in 2007.

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