Nation’S Murder Rate Drops To 30-Year Low Largest Declines Show Up In Big Cities

The nation’s murder rate fell in 1997 to its lowest level in three decades, with the bulk of the decline occurring in recent years in large cities with populations exceeding one million people, the Justice Department announced Saturday.

In 1968 the national murder rate was 6.9 per 100,000 people, and in 1997 the figure was 6.8 percent, the department said in a new report, “Homicide Trends in the United States.”

For much of the 1990s the murder rate dropped in big cities. There, it fell from 35.5 homicides per 100,000 people in 1991 to 20.3 per 100,000 people in 1997.

Much of the decline was attributable to a drop in gun-related violence among juveniles and young adults in those years, the study said. It added that the murder rate among adults over age 25 declined from what it was three decades ago.

The study followed an FBI report last month that said major crime generally had declined for six successive years.

“This is remarkable progress, and it shows that our strategy of more police, tougher gun laws, and better crime prevention is making a difference,” President Clinton said at the time.

The Justice Department report, which did not provide data for individual cities, showed that the murder rate in 1997 was higher in the South and the West Coast than it was in New England, the Rocky Mountain states and the central region of the country.

Other key findings:

During the 1980s and early 1990s, there were dramatic increases in homicides committed by young black males - those 18-24 - but the figures sank in recent years. In 1985, 133.7 young black men per 100,000 committed murder. By 1993, the figure soared to 347.6 per 100,000. It began to decline in 1994 and by 1997 had dropped to 246.4 per 100,000.

The number of all young murderers, ages 18-24, while declining, was still higher than in the 1980s. In 1985 the figure was 21.4 youths per 100,000. The peak came in 1991 when 40.8 youths per 100,000 were convicted of murder. The decline began the next year, and in 1997 the figure fell to 33.2 youths per 100,000.

From 1976 through 1997, 85 percent of white murder victims were killed by whites, while 94 percent of black victims were killed by blacks. During the same period, 13 percent of white murder victims were killed by blacks, while about 6 percent of black victims were killed by whites.

From 1976 through 1997, blacks were seven times more likely than whites to be murdered and eight times more likely than whites to commit murders.

In cases where the victim was killed by an acquaintance, one in 10 was murdered by a member of another race. In cases where the killer was a stranger, three in 10 victims were murdered by a member of another race.

Males were more likely to be murderers and murder victims. Men were about nine times more likely than women to kill. In addition, male and female murderers were more likely to target men than women.

The study was based on FBI crime data and was prepared for the Justice Department by James Alan Fox, professor of criminal justice at Northeastern University in Boston, and Marianne Zawitz, a Justice Department statistician.

Last month’s FBI report said that seven major crimes declined in the first half of 1998, compared with the first six months of 1997.

Looking at the two periods, officials noted an 8 percent drop in murders and an 11 percent drop in robberies. Aggravated assault and rape each were down 5 percent; auto theft declined 8 percent; larceny-theft was down 5 percent, and burglary fell 3 percent.

Attorney General Janet Reno said the country had turned a “historic corner” on crime. “Crime is still too high,” she said, “but rising crime rates are not a fact of life.”