Murder Rate

A spate of violence in the city continued with a daylight shooting that left three people dead inside a West Baltimore apartment, as members of the City Council on Tuesday pressed police commanders to address a rise in killings and robberies. The Fulton Avenue shootings took the life of two women and a man, the latest in an explosion of violence in West Baltimore, which has already seen 15 murders this year, half of its total for all of 2012. Ten of those killings have occurred in just a 12-block stretch southwest of Druid Hill Park and near Mondawmin Mall.

A spate of violence in the city continued with a daylight shooting that left three people dead inside a West Baltimore apartment, as members of the City Council on Tuesday pressed police commanders to address a rise in killings and robberies. The Fulton Avenue shootings took the life of two women and a man, the latest in an explosion of violence in West Baltimore, which has already seen 15 murders this year, half of its total for all of 2012. Ten of those killings have occurred in just a 12-block stretch southwest of Druid Hill Park and near Mondawmin Mall.

For the first time in years, Baltimore is no longer among the nation's five deadliest cities, according to statistics for 2011 compiled by the FBI and released Monday. Baltimore saw a 12 percent decline in murders last year, with the total dropping below 200 for the first time since 1978. Taking population changes into account, the murder rate per 100,000 people was the lowest since the late 1980s. Meanwhile, the number of reported rapes jumped significantly, to levels not seen since 2000.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said Wednesday that she is concerned about the city's uptick in murders this year following a record decline in 2011.  "I'm certainly not satisfied with it," Rawlings-Blake said at a news conference after Wednesday's Board of Estimates meeting. "I don't want to go back. It's not the goal of my administration to become a more violent city. My goal is to become an exceptionally safe city, one of the safest big cities in the country. I won't be satisfied until that's where we are. " Rawlings-Blake said she is discussing with Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts "ways that we can increase enforcement and deployment to bring that down.

The Sun should be commended for publishing such an extensive article on the "right to carry" laws in Maryland and putting it in clear terms that anyone can understand ("Gun laws' sketchy effect," March 11). The bottom line, according to the academics, is that restrictions or a lack of restrictions make no difference. However, it's complicated because on one hand, "the right to carry" concealed guns does decrease the murder rates and on the other hand, "the right to carry" will "slightly increase the number of aggravated assaults.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said Wednesday that she is concerned about the city's uptick in murders this year following a record decline in 2011.  "I'm certainly not satisfied with it," Rawlings-Blake said at a news conference after Wednesday's Board of Estimates meeting. "I don't want to go back. It's not the goal of my administration to become a more violent city. My goal is to become an exceptionally safe city, one of the safest big cities in the country. I won't be satisfied until that's where we are. " Rawlings-Blake said she is discussing with Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts "ways that we can increase enforcement and deployment to bring that down.

Too emotional teen-ager . . .Live wire that splitsa smut-thick sky.Sees a capital punishment, then kills.And we dare ask why.See this pain-soaked child . . .Grab men and women,Hold them dear,Make them fat and frightened,Cook them in the chair.Murder rate, murder rate . . .Back and forth again.A wind that turns around at night;Will it ever end?

Peter Hermann 's story on Baltimore murders accurately described the challenges the city faces even as violence there has dropped ("Baltimore murder victims, suspects share ties to criminal justice system," Jan. 2). However, the progress has also allowed Gov. Martin O'Malley to declare that his Violence Prevention Initiative was responsible for the decline - an overreaching claim that flies in the face of data. Baltimore's murder rate has been decreasing for more than a decade, closely tracking a national trend, and it began dropping long before the governor's initiative was launched.

Baltimore's murder rate continued its steady increase during the first half of 1991, when 148 persons were killed -- 15 more than during the same period last year.The violence fell particularly hard on the city's black community: 9 of 10 of Baltimore's homicide victims during the first half of the year were black, and one third of those killed in the city were black men between the ages of 20 and 29."It's just not something we can stop before it occurs," said Dennis S. Hill, a Police Department spokesman.

WASHINGTON -- A study released yesterday shows that the country's murder rate is about the same as it was six decades ago and that the rate for minorities has actually decreased in the past two decades.But the homicide rate for children under 14 is "at or near record highs for the post-World War II era," the study said. And rates for preschoolers 4 and younger have risen to their highest levels in 40 years."The fears that we're losing our youth to violence is true," said Carol J. De Vita, director of publications for the Population Reference Bureau, a nonprofit research group that conducted the study.

With three more murders over the weekend , Baltimore has virtually no chance of continued improvement in the city's homicide rate.  There have been 187 people killed so far this year, as of Sunday. Last year Baltimore saw 196 murders, the lowest total since the late 1970s and, adjusting for population change, the lowest murder rate since the late 1980s.  The city would need to see nine homicides from this point on to match last year's number. But just once since 1970 has the city recorded less than 10 homicides in the month of November or December, let alone nine total to close the year.  A positive takeaway for this year would be a continued decline in the number of non-fatal shootings, which were down 5 percent as of the most recent update on Oct. 27. If that holds, Baltimore would record about 360 non-fatal shootings this year, compared with 651 just five years ago and 419 in 2010.  jfenton@baltsun.com

Last week's report that Baltimore's population continues to shrink was not good news but hardly surprising, given the city's history. The drop was modest compared to the residential losses Baltimore has experienced in years past, but more importantly, the U.S. Census statistics contained ample evidence of a potentially brighter future ahead. That's because many U.S. cities are on the rebound. The same Census figures that show Baltimore lost about 1,500 people in the year ending last July also revealed that more than half of the country's 51 largest metropolitan areas saw greater growth within their city limits than in their suburbs.

For the first time in years, Baltimore has fallen out of the top five in national murder rate, according to statistics for 2011 compiled by the FBI and released Monday. Baltimore saw a 12 percent decline in murders last year, with the total dropping below 200 for the first time since 1978. Taking population changes into account, the murder rate per 100,000 people was the lowest since the late 1980s. Meanwhile, the number of reported rapes jumped significantly, to levels not seen since 2000.

Angela Holland seems to know just about everyone in her North Baltimore neighborhood. She jokes with a guy hanging out of the window of an apartment high-rise. She consoles the deli counter man at the East 25th Street corner store, who's distraught about losing his mother two years ago. Without saying a word, she slips a few quarters to a man sitting on a stoop, who in turn hands her a cigarette. These folks know her. And some of the people in this neighborhood, she suspects, also know who killed her son, 22-year-old Jerry Isaac.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III, the longest-serving commissioner in the city's recent history and who oversaw steep declines in the city's murder rate, is stepping down, the mayor's office announced. Bealefeld's retirement date is effective August 1, the sources said, but he still stay on and oversee a transition. A senior aide to Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said Bealefeld informed of her of his decision today and said he wanted to spend more time with his family.

The Sun should be commended for publishing such an extensive article on the "right to carry" laws in Maryland and putting it in clear terms that anyone can understand ("Gun laws' sketchy effect," March 11). The bottom line, according to the academics, is that restrictions or a lack of restrictions make no difference. However, it's complicated because on one hand, "the right to carry" concealed guns does decrease the murder rates and on the other hand, "the right to carry" will "slightly increase the number of aggravated assaults.

We're embarrassed, aren't we? We're so embarrassed we don't know quite what to say.That's the answer to an ugly little question being asked a lot these days: Why do we get into such an uproar every time some foreigner gets plunked in Florida when scores of actual Americans are being murdered nationwide every day, virtually without notice?We're embarrassed, all right.In America, we are very serious about how wonderful it is to be an American. This is the country where it is, well, un-American to suggest that the U.S.A.

In D.C., Chief Cathy L. Lanier is getting some heat for what the Washington Post reports is a "statistical mishmash" regarding the Metropolitan Police Department's sparkling homicide clearance rate of 94 percent of its 108 killings. As it turns out, many of the closed cases are from previous years: In Baltimore, this revelation is not new or surprising, but it's worth reminding the public how the process works. First, here's some snippets from the Post article: A 94 percent closure rate would mean that detectives solved 102 of them.