Murder rate reaches 10-year high in Boston

Saturday, December 17, 2005

BOSTON -- The execution-style slayings of four young men in a basement music studio this week cast a spotlight on a crime wave that has pushed murder in Boston to a 10-year high. While the murder rate nationally has dropped over the past decade, some cities -- such as Boston and Philadelphia -- are seeing it spike. In Boston, the number of slayings has more than doubled in the past several years, climbing from 31 in 1999 to 71 so far this year. Criminologists blame the increase in part on a decrease in funding for neighborhood policing because of the war on terrorism; a demographic bubble of teenagers and young adults; and the scaling back since the late 1990s of after-school and anti-gang programs. In some cities, murders continue to drop. New York, which has seen its murder rate plummet to levels seen during the 1960s, had 508 killings through Dec. 11, a drop of about 6 percent from last year.

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