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Crime Climbs; Bush Blamed
A surge in violent crime that began last year accelerated in the first half of 2006, the FBI reported yesterday, providing the clearest signal yet that the historic drop in the U.S. crime rate has ended and is being reversed. Reports of homicides, assaults and other violent offenses surged by nearly 4 percent in the first six months of the year compared with the same time period in 2005, according to the FBI's latest Uniform Crime Report. The numbers included an increase of nearly 10 percent for robberies, which many criminologists consider a leading indicator of coming trends.The results follow a 2.5 percent jump in violent crime for 2005, which at the time represented the largest increase in 15 years. The latest numbers suggest that those results were not an anomaly but rather part of the first significant uptick in violent crime since the early 1990s, according to criminal justice experts. Many communities, particularly those in urbanized areas, may be headed into a period of sustained crime increases, they said. While no one is certain of the causes, experts cited an increase in the number of young men in their crime-prone years, diminished crime-fighting assistance from the federal government, fewer jobs for people with marginal skills and even the ongoing growth in methamphetamine use in some places. Illegal immigration, of course, is completely unrelated. But there must be some political spin we can give this, Elrod. Aha! The numbers come amid heightened criticism of the federal government from many police chiefs and state law enforcement officials, who complain that the Bush administration has retreated from fighting traditional crime in favor of combating terrorism and protecting homeland security. Justice officials dispute those contentions and pointed yesterday to an ongoing study designed to identify solutions to the rise in violent crime. Can we work Katrina in here, too, Elrod? Sure, Boss! The increase was especially dramatic in many cities of 500,000 residents or more, the FBI report showed, including a 28 percent increase in Houston that appears attributable in part to an influx of residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Homicides in New Orleans, whose population was greatly reduced after the storm, plunged by more than 60 percent in the same time period. The numbers are certain to increase pressure on the Bush administration, whose detractors say local police concerns have been slighted by the focus on homeland security and counterterrorism. Say Elrod, how about Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo? Not this time, Boss. Posted by: Bobby 2007-05-31 |
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