Murder Rate In NYC Slightly Up From Last Year

Murder in New York City is not as prevalent as it once was, especially when compared to the height of high crime 15 years ago, but recently, it seems that certain neighborhoods have reported more killings.

In 1990, there were more than 2,200 murders in New York. In 2006, the city is on pace for 540 murders, NewsChannel 4 reported. This year is the fifth straight year below 600, a rate so low that one would have to go back to the 1960s to match it. But some wonder if crime has gone as low as it can go in a city so large.

A man was charged with fatally stabbing a woman and beating two men to death on Monday in the Bronx. The crime brought the total for the 41st Precinct to 13 murders in 2006, up from six murders in 2005.

In Crown Heights, Brooklyn, there have been 18 murders so far this year compared to eight last year. In Fort Greene, at Brooklyn’s 88th Precinct, there have been seven murders, up from zero last year. In Jamaica, Queens, there have been 14 murders, up from seven in 2005. And, in the 120th Precinct on Staten Island, there has been an increase from seven to 13.

“We’re always looking at where we can reduce crime even more. We’re not ever going to accept a certain level of crime,” said New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

Kelly pointed out that the murder rate also has dropped significantly in places such as Bushwick, Brooklyn’s 83rd Precinct, with only four murders in 2006, down from 14 last year. The 113th Precinct in south Jamaica has also seen a drop from 12 to six.

Citywide, murder is up 21 percent in the Bronx and 32 percent in northern Manhattan, but it is down 19 percent in Queens.

“Certainly the borough commander in the Bronx is taking a very hard look at spikes and violence that have occurred in the Bronx. Detectives are working hard to investigate the homicides that have taken place, but when you step back and look at the big picture, it’s good news,” Kelly said.
It is especially good news compared to the early 1990s, when the city reached a dangerous peak of six murders per day.

Richard Green, who runs the Crown Heights Youth Collective in a Brooklyn neighborhood that is exponentially safer than it used to be, said the recent murder spike does not concern him as much of the lack of options for teenagers growing up in poverty. He offered what he called the “clean water” solution as a challenge to area businesses.

“Hire these young people and give them opportunities. And if you set that clean glass of water out, it’s human nature — they’re going to drink from the clean. If there’s nothing but the other glass set out there for them, that’s what they’re going to drink from,” Green said.

For the year, citywide, the murder rate seems to be up 3 percent. But the New York Police Department said that number is inflated by a statistical quirk: a high number of “reclassifications,” or people shot or assaulted in other years who died this year. Without those cases, the murder rate is actually slightly down.