Violent Crime

The number of people who were victims of violent crime excluding murder fell by 9% in 2001, sending the crime rate to its lowest level since it was first tracked in 1973, the government reported. The decline was primarily because of a record low number of reported assaults, the most common form of violent crime. The drop is detailed in the 2001 National Crime Victimization Survey, which is based on interviews with victims and therefore does not include murder.

One in three Americans injured in a violent crime reported that their attacker had committed a crime against them before, according to a government study. About half of the reported attacks that caused injury were committed by an intimate partner, with another third committed by other family members. Just 20% were committed by strangers, according to the study by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A city afflicted with a record annual homicide rate has served up a vexing array of issues for San Diego's Blue Ribbon Committee on Violent Crime, a gathering of law enforcement, civic and political leaders who met for the first time Wednesday. Among the issues raised was the aptness of the committee's name. "When I saw the words blue ribbon , they bothered me," said Andre Henderson, a committee member and president of the Baptist Ministers Union.

Despite a slight decline in San Diego's overall crime rate during the first quarter of 1991, the number of violent crimes rose for the eighth consecutive year, according to a report delivered to the City Council Wednesday by Police Chief Bob Burgreen. Violent crime--homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault--jumped 10.4% compared with the same period in 1990. Police Department spokesman Dave Cohen said the increase in violent crime can be attributed to an increase in drug and gang problems.

Americans may fear violent crime more than in the past, but new figures released by the Justice Department on Tuesday show that they are experiencing it less. Violent crimes such as robbery, rape and aggravated assault dropped by more than 9% in 1995, compared with 1994, according to preliminary estimates from the department's survey of crime victims. The survey, based on interviews with crime victims, included some offenses that had not been reported to police.

Warning that crime and the fear of crime "are tearing this country apart," Vice President Al Gore and other senior officials Tuesday unveiled a federal initiative to help states and local law enforcement agencies apprehend violent criminals.

The Justice Department reported new evidence Sunday of a continuing decline in violent crime, but the figures showed urban black victims experienced less of a decline than other groups. In its annual survey of violent-crime victims, the department's Bureau of Justice Statistics said the national rate for rape, robbery, assault and other violent crimes fell by an overall 12.4% between 1994 and 1995.

Greg Fox couldn't believe that a grisly murder could happen on his quiet, tree-lined block, especially to someone like his next-door neighbor, whom he had watched grow into a friendly and cautious college student. He has spent most of his life in this master-planned community precisely because it prides itself on being one of the safest cities in the United States. "This is crazy. I lived in Venice for a year.

The number of murders in Long Beach more than doubled this summer and all crimes against people rose by 18%, compared to the same three months last year, police reported this week. There were 32 murders in the city in July, August and September, compared to 15 during the same months last year, according to police. Thirteen of the murders are gang-related, Mayor Ernie Kell said.