Homicide Rate In Baltimore City Declined Considerably
BALTIMORE (WJZ)—Critics have called this "The City that Bleeds." But there are signs of improvement across Baltimore.
Monique Griego has an inside look at the numbers.
The homicide rate has been falling here for the past few years, but now numbers have reach a new low.
The latest homicide was on Christmas Eve in Cherry Hill. A man was found dead in a home's front yard.
With days to go before the calendar turns, 195 people have been listed as murdered this year.
Last year at this time, the number was 219.[
worldnow id=6583694 width=385 height=288 type=video]
Going back to 1993, 353 people had been murdered.
"The goal is beyond the numbers because here's what we know. While the numbers have come down over the last four years, it hasn't changed people's perceptions," said city police commissioner Fred Bealefeld in a November interview.
The homicide rate has fallen every year since 2007--part of a nationwide trend.
"They're using technology. They're using data. Crime patterns. Maps to figure out where are the hotspots. What's the trend, in terms of crime," said James Alan Fox, criminologist."
City state's attorney Gregg Bernstein has been cracking down on repeat violent offenders like John Wagner, the man who killed Hopkins research Stephen Pitcairn.
Wagner is serving a life sentence.
The number of non-fatal shootings has also been cut in half in the past decade. And the number of juvenile homicides is also at a 30-year low. Over the past year, homicides have fallen about 10 percent.
The FBI says the number of murders, rapes, robberies and assaults have all fallen across the country.
