Reply #27: WP: Violent Crime Rises In U.S.

[kskiska]

Tuesday, June 13, 2006; A01

Violent crime in 2005 increased at the highest rate in 15 years, driven in large part by a surge of killings and other attacks in many Midwestern cities, the FBI reported yesterday.

The FBI's preliminary annual crime report showed an overall jump of 2.5 percent for violent offenses, including increases in homicide, robbery and assault. It was the first rise of any note since 2001, and rape was the only category in which the number of crimes declined.

(snip)

James Alan Fox, a criminal justice professor at Northeastern University in Boston, said the increase should serve as a "wake-up call in Washington." Lawmakers and the Bush administration have cut back many law enforcement programs popular during the 1990s.

"We have to worry about not just homeland security but also hometown security," Fox said. "High-crime areas have been relatively ignored over the last five years so we can deploy officers to fight terrorism."

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/12/AR2006061200417.html