Text 26019, 258 rader
Skriven 2007-01-01 16:08:18 av Alan Hess
Ärende: how to stop this?
=========================

As this article states, most of the murders in Baltimore are black perpetrators
killing black victims in poor neighborhoods, drugs are usually involved, and
both killer and victim usually have records.  I'd venture that the same is true
in other cities.  Other than legalizing some of the popular drugs (marijuana,
cocaine in its various forms, narcotics, some amphetamines, barbiturates), what
can be done to reduce these murders?  Baltimore has a lot of nice areas, but it
also has some areas that are horrendous, and I feel sorry for the decent people
who live in those areas (yes, there are some, as they can't afford to get out.)

************


http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-te.ci.homicide01jan0
1,0,4002621.story?coll=bal-home-headlines

From the Baltimore Sun
Patterns persist in city killings
Victims, suspects usually black men with long criminal histories; rate is among
highest in U.S.


By Gus G. Sentementes
Sun reporter

January 1, 2007

Christopher Whitfield died as he lived - on the streets of Baltimore. And his
demise was typical for a city steeped in violence:

He was 22, had served a short stint in prison for second-degree murder, had
been on probation, been arrested several times on theft and drug charges, and
was a suspected member of the Bloods gang.

Despite a seeming revitalization of several city neighborhoods, Baltimore's
homicide rate remains among the highest in the country. A driving force behind
this dubious distinction is that people such as Whitfield - young black men
with lengthy criminal histories - continue to be killed in large numbers by
others with similar backgrounds, according to police homicide figures reviewed
by The Sun.

Whitfield was gunned down on Hanover Street in South Baltimore about 1 a.m.
Dec. 15. As of last night, 274 people had died by homicide in Baltimore - five
more than the 269 victims in 2005.

During the administration of Mayor Martin O'Malley, who took over in December
1999, the city yielded crime statistics that showed a significant reduction in
violent crime. But Baltimore remained one of the deadliest cities in America
last year, and public safety will likely remain a top issue for the next crop
of mayoral candidates who seek election this year.

The number of homicides in Baltimore has been a persistent problem for years,
dogging successive police and mayoral administrations. The number of killings
was under 300 for the first time in a decade in O'Malley's first full year in
office, 2000, but never went down to the 175 the mayor promised would happen by
2002.

The statistics that the Police Department's homicide division compile annually
reflect a chilling consistency that continues to pose a challenge to law
enforcement, city neighborhoods, school leaders and public policymakers.
Whitfield's life and death fit in with many of those statistics:

? In 2005, 236 of the 269 homicide victims were black. Through mid-December of
2006, 236 of 256 victims were black.

? In 2005, 243 victims were men and 26 were women. In 2006, through
mid-December, 231 men and 25 women were killed.

? Eighty-eight people in the age range of 18 to 24 were killed in 2005. In
2006, at least 85 in that group were killed as of mid-December.

? Handguns were used in 208 killings in 2005. In 2006, at least 213 victims
were killed by handguns.

? Of the city's 274 victims through the last week of December, 82 percent had
criminal records - the same percentage as in 2005. Also, 92 percent of murder
suspects had criminal records in 2006, compared with 80 percent in 2005.

? Since at least 2002, about one-third of juvenile arrests in Baltimore involve
drugs, with a majority of cases warranting more serious distribution charges -
a steady ratio that reflects the continuing problem of teenagers' involvement
in a narcotics trade that has thrived for years.

"We've really reached an equilibrium and an inertia," said Gregory Cantori,
executive director of the Marion I. & Henry J. Knott Foundation, a Roman
Catholic-centered organization that funds after-school programs and other human
services through grants. The statistics, he said, "are basically telling you
that whatever we think we're doing to make a difference isn't really working."

Baltimore's homicide rate has dipped since the 1990s, but not by much. In 1993,
when the city recorded 353 homicides with a population of 724,000, the rate was
49 victims per 100,000 people. In 2005 - the most recent year for which full
statistics are available - Baltimore's population of 641,000 saw its homicide
rate decline to 42 victims per 100,000 people.

That compared to a less deadly rate in 2005 for far more populous cities, such
as New York (seven victims per 100,000 people); Los Angeles (13 per 100,000);
and Chicago (16 per 100,000). East Coast cities that were closer in size to
Baltimore also had lower rates, such as Boston (13 per 100,000 people) and
Washington (35 victims per 100,000).

Homicide counts in New York and Chicago rose in 2006, while Los Angeles' and
Washington's numbers declined. Through late December, Boston's homicide count
was the same as in 2005.

Jennifer Rosenthal, after-school program director for the Chesapeake Center for
Youth Development, said that in the South Baltimore neighborhoods her agency
serves, children, teenagers and young adults have few social and economic
opportunities, and typically attend city schools that are a good distance from
their homes. The citywide high school graduation rate is about 60 percent.

"You look at where the money has gone: a brand-new courthouse," Rosenthal said,
referring to the John R. Hargrove Sr. District Court Building on East Patapsco
Avenue, which opened in 2003. "That sends a message to young people: They can't
have after-school programs, they can't get jobs, but they have a brand-new
courthouse. I'm not trying to make it too simple, but the message kids get is
loud and clear."

David A. Kennedy, director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control at
John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, said the "fundamentals"
of crime in Baltimore have not changed for years. Kennedy conducted a study and
program in Park Heights in the late 1990s that sought to curtail violence by
targeting specific street drug crews that were more likely to commit violence,
and focusing enforcement and other resources on those groups. The model has
been used in other cities, such as Boston.

Under O'Malley, who takes over as governor this month, Baltimore switched to a
broad "quality of life" strategy modeled after New York City's efforts, which
involved aggressive enforcement of minor infractions to disrupt drug dealers
and violent offenders in city neighborhoods.

Baltimore officials credit that approach with helping reduce violent crime in
the city. But critics say the effort has only perpetuated a revolving-door
criminal justice system, with too many people arrested for minor crimes that
don't result in meaningful punishment.

"All of the street action is driven by small groups of extraordinarily active
offenders," said Kennedy. "There's a framework for addressing this that people
have made work all over the country. But Baltimore's history on this is all too
common. Without a really different kind of approach, things don't change."

The number of juvenile homicide victims and suspects in Baltimore in 2006 has
renewed attention on social and public safety issues facing young people in
Baltimore. As of mid-December, there were 28 homicide victims younger than 18.
In 2005, 13 juveniles were killed - a two-decade low, police statistics show.

The number of murder suspects under the age of 18 who were charged as adults
also increased significantly in 2006, to 21 from 11 in 2005.

City Council President and Mayor-designate Sheila Dixon said in an interview
that she thinks the federal government has focused on overseas wars in recent
years and could do more to help U.S. cities that continue to grapple with high
crime. Violent crime in many areas across the country have gone up this year,
national statistics show.

Public agencies that have operated within the city's criminal justice system
for years have been criticized as incapable of working together, and leaders
have frequently squabbled in public. Dixon said the main issue facing the
system is that it needs a "more holistic approach."

"Our police department, our state's attorney, our court system ... have to be
on the same page," Dixon said.

Police Commissioner Leonard D. Hamm said the department plans to expand its
community-based programs and work more closely with the city health and social
services departments to focus on at-risk juveniles. Several city agencies are
also working together on an anti-gang strategy that is supported by a federal
grant.

"I call it the 'E's' and the 'H's': economics, education, healthcare and
housing," Hamm said. "If you don't have those things working together, then
you're going to have us."

As of Dec. 16, violent crime showed a slight decrease, with a double-digit
percentage drop in felony assaults, preliminary police statistics show. But
shootings were up across the city by 17 percent. Burglaries were up slightly;
and robberies rose significantly in 2006 - a trend mirrored in many other
cities across the country.

Arrests for burglaries and robberies also jumped significantly, the statistics
show.

Hamm said he believes that the rise in robberies and shootings was being
driven, at least in part, by the Police Department's disruption of drug
markets.

"Because we were making a serious dent in the drug trade, these guys started
sticking people up," including other drug dealers, bars, convenience stores and
people on the street, Hamm said. But, he said, robbery detectives broke up and
arrested four groups of men who police believed were responsible for scores of
robberies this year in neighborhoods across the city.

Hamm said the department has not been distracted by high-profile police
corruption scandals, such as the dismantling of a specialized unit after three
officers were accused of rape and misconduct in connection with a female
detainee. Criticism of the department grew louder, with the American Civil
Liberties Union and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People filing a civil lawsuit alleging a broad pattern of abusive arrest
practices.

The department has also faced serious strain over staffing issues. With a
capacity of 3,200 officers, the department was short more than 100 officers
during 2006. A difficult recruiting climate nationwide made it so hard for the
department to quickly fill ranks that it sent recruiters to Puerto Rico.

In the fall, as crime spiked in the city, police officials were forced to send
about 70 officers who were on administrative duty back to the streets.

Deputy Commissioner of Operations Marcus Brown said the department lost
officers faster than it could hire and train them in 2006. But he said that
recent hiring trends show signs that the department could reverse that trend by
the middle of this year.

Philip Leaf, director of the Center for the Prevention of Youth Violence at the
Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health, said the Police
Department can't solve all of the city's problems.

"Maybe things have gotten so bad that people are finally going to start working
together," said Leaf. "My hope is that 2007 is actually the year when the
parent groups, the student groups, the law enforcement groups and the
neighborhood groups are able to actually come together," said Leaf, who has
advised on the city's recent effort to craft an anti-violence strategy to deal
with gangs.

"None of the groups alone have adequate resources," said Leaf. "And their
resources certainly aren't commensurate with the problem."

Margaret T. Burns, a spokeswoman for the city state's attorney's office, said
prosecutors have tried for years to focus on the problem that repeat violent
offenders pose in the community. But the changeover in police commissioners
under O'Malley brought different approaches of policing to the city in short
periods of time and left little continuity in strategy, she said.

"You need to break the cycle of violence by eliminating the anonymity that
these violent offenders have on the streets," Burns said. "Unfortunately, when
you have different policing strategies, that affects your ability to move
forward on a strategy for the entire criminal justice system."

Whitfield was gunned down last month on a foggy night in the 3800 block of S.
Hanover St. A patrol officer happened to be a few blocks away and saw muzzle
flashes. The officer drove toward the scene and came upon Whitfield lying in
the street. Any suspects had fled into the night.

Whitfield did not have a fixed address, police said, and his relatives could
not be located for comment. His case remains unsolved. Baltimore's homicides

2006
274

2005
269

gus.sentementes@baltsun.com

Copyright + 2006, The Baltimore Sun | Get Sun home delivery

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