The FBI released its annual crime statistics showing that violent crime in 2007 was down across the board compared to 2006, including a 1.3% decline in murder.  However, according to a report released by Northeastern University criminal justice professors James Fox and Marc Swatt, these gains mask a disturbing trend. 

According to the Northeastern study, from 2000 to 2007 the number of homicides involving African-American juveniles (ages 14-17) as victims rose by 39%.  During the same period, the number of homicides involving African-American juveniles as perpetrators rose by 34%.  The increases for white male teens of the same age during that period were only 17 percent and 3 percent, respectively.  Guns were overwhelmingly the weapon of choice for young black offenders and are now used in nearly 85 percent of homicides they commit. 

According to the report, in 2000, 539 white and 851 black juveniles committed murder.  In 2007, the number of whites, 547, had barely changed, but the number of blacks rose to 1,142.  The increase in murder among black youth was true for every region of the country.  According to the study, the number of African-American homicide offenders ages 14-24 in Georgia rose 19% between 2000 and 2007.             

According to the report, the recent rise in homicides among young black males falls short of the extraordinary high levels of murder during the crack related gang killings of the 1980’s and early 1990’s.  The authors conclude that the recent increases demonstrate the effectiveness of the crime fighting efforts of the 1990’s.  They say that there was a complacency that developed because of this success.  The authors also state that law enforcement priorities were diverted to homeland security after the September 11^th attacks.   Therefore, federal support for policing and youth violence prevention has declined sharply in recent years. The report concludes that  “reinvestment in the programs and strategies that worked successfully in the past, along with restored funding levels for policing and prevention, can reverse the current spate of street and gang violence.”  “There is a significant need for reinvestment in children and families – in essence an at-risk youth bailout during these difficult economic times,” says Professor Fox.  He called for government money to beef up police and restore mentor, sports, after-school and summer programs that withered as federal funds were redirected from cities to homeland security after the September 11^th terror attacks.  "We need to invest much more in the lives of these kids," Fox said. "I know there's lots of people who say times are tough and we don't have the money, but we either pay for these programs now or pray for the victims later because crime doesn't wait until the economy improves."

IS MORE MONEY THE ANSWER?

Others believe that more money for more programs may not be the answer. Kay Hymowitz, of the Manhattan Institute, who has studied the breakdown of marriage in the United States, suggests that to understand and change the rise in violent crime by African-American children we have to address the root problem of absentee fathers and fractured black families.  "We still need to bring the conversation around to the subject that everyone has been uneasy about, and that's the breakdown of the family," she said.  Hymowitz cites statistics showing that 70 percent of black children are born to single mothers.  She sees a direct correlation between the breakdown of the nuclear family and crime and poverty.  “The institution of marriage appears to promote ideals of stability, order and fidelity that benefit children and adults alike,” she says.  Dr. Alfred Blumstein, a criminologist at Carnegie Mellon University, seems to agree.  He says that while federal cuts might have contributed to the rise in murders by black teenagers, “I think there are much more endemic problems going on.”  He says,  “its much more complex than pumping federal dollars.  It is associated with the large number of high-school dropouts who have no job opportunities and the ready availability of guns to those who have no right to carry them.”