Murder rates continue to fall in Philadelphia, other major U.S. cities

By Donna de la Cruz, ASSOCIATED PRESS

Murders in major American cities continued to drop in 1998, reaching levels not seen in some cases since the 1960s.

The trend, perhaps not coincidentally, looks as if somebody reversed a chart of the stock market over the last decade.

``The economy's good, apprehension rates are high, and the emergency clinics are excellent in saving people's lives,'' said Police Lt. A.J. Biello of Atlanta, which had 146 murders in 1998 as of Monday, four fewer than last year.

New York City dropped from 767 murders last year to 616 as of Monday - the lowest toll since 1964. Los Angeles went from 566 in 1997 to 414 as of Monday, a level not seen since 1970. Among the next three largest cities, Chicago's toll is comparable to that of the late 1980s, Houston to the late 1960s, and Philadelphia to the mid-1980s. Miami's compares to that of the mid-1970s.

Only a few big cities - Dallas, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Seattle and Newark, N.J., among them - had more murders this year than last, but most were still well below their peaks, according to an Associated Press survey of big-city police departments.

The trend has been going on since the early 1990s. Aside from the booming economy, reasons given for the decline include the waning of the crack trade, mandatory sentences, better police work, and perhaps even changing attitudes toward crime.

``There's been a rising revulsion in personal violence in those neighborhoods,'' said Eric Monkkonen, a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles who specializes in studying murder in American cities. ``And violent young men are no longer honorable.''

In New York, officials credit drug crackdowns and a war on ``quality of life'' crimes, such as jaywalking and riding bicycles on the sidewalk.

``The people who are involved in minor crimes are sometimes the same people who are involved in major crimes, or have knowledge of major crimes,'' Police Commissioner Howard Safir said.

Whatever the reasons, Peggy Naylor said she was no longer afraid to go to the grocery store by herself in Washington Heights, once the drug hub of New York City.

``It used to be so awful here, with all those drug dealers on the streets, day and night,'' said Naylor, whose community had 13 murders this year compared with 122 in 1991. ``Now my grandchildren can play outside. There's Christmas lights on the block.''

New York, whose total peaked in 1992 with 2,262 killings, and Los Angeles each posted a 20 percent drop in murders for the second straight year.

Other cities with lower numbers than last year were Chicago (695, from 755), Houston (229, from 241), Philadelphia (333, from 418), Miami (94, from 97), Boston (35, from 42), Nashville (96, from 112), and Denver (56, from 72).

Despite an 8 percent decrease from 755 murders last year, Chicago was headed for the highest toll in the country.