NEWS
By David Simon and Michael James | August 7, 1992
Rushing to implement a new, violent-crime task force even before planning for the unit is complete, Baltimore police officials last night sent a dozen extra patrol officers into the most crime-ridden areas of East and West Baltimore in an effort to reassure beleagured residents."
NEWS
By Walter F. Roche Jr. | September 11, 2006
WASHINGTON -- The rates of homicide and firearm violence jumped upward in 2005, ending a decade of decline, according to a new U.S. Justice Department report that reinforces recent warnings by law enforcement officials. The National Crime Victimization Survey, released yesterday, found that nationwide, killings increased 4.8 percent, from 16,140 in 2004 to 16,910 last year. The biggest increases were reported in the Midwest and the South. Experts said these increases buttress reports from the FBI and many mayors and police chiefs that violent crime is beginning to rise after a long decline.
NEWS
By DAN RODRICKS | August 16, 2007
Martin O'Malley, who once had Baltimore fully in his windshield and not the rear-view mirror, called it a "rough patch." Nearly 200 homicides in the first eight months of 2007, putting Baltimore on a pace to record more than 300 killings for the first time since the bloody 1990s, and O'Malley plays this down as a "rough patch." No outrage. No fury. Not a drop of classic O'Malley sarcasm. No expression of impatience. Not a bit of disappointment in his successor for breaking from the smart and aggressive law enforcement strategies that his administration put in place and that appeared to reduce violent crime here.
NEWS
By McClatchy-Tribune | January 17, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Bush administration officials are scrambling to demonstrate that they're addressing sharp jumps in violent crime in some cities, in an attempt to reclaim a traditionally Republican issue amid criticism from some Democrats, mayors and police chiefs. Senior Justice Department officials sought yesterday to highlight the administration's multipronged programs for combating growing gang violence and outbreaks of juvenile crime. The renewed emphasis comes as some experts, as well as politicians, cite federal cuts in city and state law enforcement funding as a possible contributor to spikes in murders, robberies and assaults in medium-sized cities.
NEWS
By John Fritze | July 23, 2007
Baltimore City Councilman Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr., the leading Democratic primary opponent of Mayor Sheila Dixon, called for an independent audit of crime statistics yesterday, arguing that the official numbers do not reflect actual crime. Sounding a refrain that has become familiar in Baltimore politics, Mitchell questioned the Dixon administration's position that overall violent crime is down, while murders and nonfatal shootings climb. Mitchell promised to request an audit from the U.S. Department of Justice today.
NEWS
By Henry H. Brownstein | January 14, 1999
VIOLENT crime reached an unusually high level in Baltimore during the mid-1990s, then slowly began to decline. Still, more than 300 people were killed in Baltimore last year -- the ninth year in a row that's happened.The problem of violent crime here stands in sharp contrast to what is happening in many other big U.S. cities, most notably New York, where violent crime has been declining since 1990. For example, in the late '80s, there were about 2,000 homicides a year there; last year, there were fewer than 700.Experts have offered a variety of explanations for the drop in crime in New York, including the doubling of the state's prison population, changing demographics (fewer teen-agers)
BUSINESS
By Kristine Henry | May 26, 1999
Declaring that crime is bad for business, the incoming chairman of the Greater Baltimore Committee is to announce tonight that a major goal of the business group will be to halve the region's homicide rate by 2002.John Morton III, president of NationsBank Corp.'s Mid-Atlantic Banking Group, is to make the announcement when he is named GBC's chairman at the group's annual meeting.In Baltimore and the surrounding five counties, there were 356 homicide last year. In Baltimore City alone, there were 314 homicides last year and 312 in 1997, making it the fourth deadliest city in the country per capita, behind Gary, Ind., New Orleans and Washington.
NEWS
By Nancy A. Youssef | August 17, 1999
Robberies in Howard County rose about 63 percent in the first half of this year, and police said yesterday that it will take time for the 4-month-old robbery unit to have an impact.The surge in robberies contributed to a 28.6 percent increase in violent crime in the first half of the year compared with the same period last year, according to new police statistics. Property crimes increased 2.8 percent.Some community leaders expressed concern, saying the county should be in line with the statewide trend of decreased crime.
NEWS
By Linda Chavez | June 16, 1999
FRANCIS Fukuyama likes to take on big issues, as he did with his first book, "The End of History and the Last Man," an analysis of the post-Cold War world published soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union.Mr. Fukuyama, a professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., has taken on an even more ambitious project in his latest book, "The Great Disruption," trying to explain why social order seems to be unraveling in the last half of this century -- and not just in the United States.
NEWS
BY A SUN STAFF WRITER | April 25, 1999
Victim's Voices: Silent No More is the theme of today's memorial service in New Windsor honoring the memory of Western Marylanders who lost their lives to violent crime.The 10th annual service also acknowledges the families whose lives have been dramatically changed by someone else's violent actions. The western region includes Carroll, Montgomery, Frederick, Washington, Allegany and Garrett counties.In a written statement for National Crime Victims' Rights Week, which began today, members of the Victim Witness unit of the Carroll County state's attorney's office said their goal is to help victims of violent crime express their needs, speak out and participate actively in their recovery.