Tweet
Black Men Killing Each Other
Homicides among black males spike
Hub ranks 6th for cities with sharpest rise
By Maria Cramer, Globe Staff | December 29, 2008
A study analyzing homicides across the country shows that Boston is among six major cities that have seen the sharpest spikes in the number of young black males killing one another between 2000 and 2007, an alarming trend that comes at a time when the state is cutting back on programs geared toward helping troubled youths.
The number of black males between 14 and 24 years old who killed in the city went up 78 percent to 64 between two two-year periods, 2000 to 2001 and 2006 to 2007, according to a Northeastern University study to be released today.
Out of 28 cities analyzed, five - Houston, Las Vegas, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, and San Francisco - had sharper increases than Boston.
The Rev. William E. Dickerson II, pastor of Greater Love Tabernacle Church in Dorchester, said he hopes the study will help those living outside minority neighborhoods realize the trend among young black males is everyone's problem. Earlier this month, he presided over the funeral of a 17-year-old youth. Later, he realized that 16 years ago, he had led the funeral of the victim's father, who was gunned down when he was just a teenager.
"When Americans stop looking at black boys shooting each other and dying on the street not as a black community problem, but as an American problem, we will see a greater decrease in violence," Dickerson said.
The study shows decreases in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, but those cities have murders in the triple digits in the time period studied: Chicago went from 656 in 2000-01 to 460 in 2006-07, Los Angeles went from 300 to 233, and New York went from 555 to 436.
Most cities showed slight to large increases, contrasting sharply with the 1.3 percent decrease in murders nationwide that the FBI reported for 2007, according to the report.
It is a dichotomy that underscores the need to put more federal and state funding into community policing and into job and after-school programs that would benefit young people living in minority neighborhoods, said James Alan Fox, one of the study's authors. "The choice is ours. We can pay for programs now or pray for the victims later," he said. "We're bailing out the banks and the auto industry, but we need a youth bailout."
The study also looked at all 50 states, with only three - Delaware, Kansas, and Nebraska - showing sharper increases than Massachusetts in the number of young black male offenders. In Massachusetts, that number jumped 98 percent to 129 during the same time periods.
The number of young white males in Massachusetts who killed, meanwhile, went up 17 percent statewide, the report states. The analysis was based on homicide figures from local and federal departments.
The numbers are based on estimates because in many of the homicides, perpetrators have not been caught or identified, according to the study's authors, who used facts about the victim, including age, gender, race, and where they were killed, to determine the characteristics of the killer.
The study shows how dramatically the country shifted priorities during the first years of the 21st century, pulling financial resources away from antigang initiatives and directing them toward homeland security threats, Fox said.
Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis said the figures should be viewed in the context of the early 1990s, when the number of homicides in Boston peaked at 152 before dropping to 31 in 1999. During the 1990s, he said, the city received millions of federal dollars to combat crime and find alternatives for troubled teenagers, but that funding began to dry up after 2000.
"Those federal funds were pulled out of the city abruptly for an eight-year period and those homicide figures started to go up," Davis said. "That's not a surprise and it's something that the federal government should have to answer for."
The study notes that Boston's spike looks particularly sharp because of the huge drops in crime it experienced in the late 1990s. And while Boston has a considerably low crime rate compared with other cities its size, Fox said, it became complacent following its success battling violence.
"We have this sort of false impression that the crime problem had been solved," Fox said. "The thing about crime is you don't solve it. You just control it."
In 2007, Boston had 64 homicides, up from 39 in 2000. In 2007, more than 90 percent of the offenders in Boston used guns to kill their victims.
In the state, the number of homicides has steadily increased from 125 in 2000 to 184 in 2007, according to Fox.
Nearly half the city's 2007 homicide victims were black men 24 years old and younger, compared with 15 seven years ago. Close to a fourth of the victims killed in the state were black men 24 years old and younger.
The increases have happened as the number of white male offenders in the same age group has decreased in the city and gone up at a much slower rate in the state. But the number of white male victims 24 years old and younger has climbed. In 2007, there were 7 white male victims in Boston compared with zero in 2000. In Massachusetts, the number climbed from 19 to 27 in the same time period.
In Boston, the number of white offenders between 14 and 24 went down from 15 in 2000 and 2001 to 9 in 2006 and 2007. But in the state, the number of white male offenders in the same age group went from 70 to 82 during the same time periods.
"It's not just in somebody's else's backyard," Fox said. " 'Oh, black kids killing black kids, why do I have to worry about this?' This is a significant drain on resources in terms of police responding to this. If you don't care on a human level, then at least you care in terms of a financial resource level."
And the bleak economy won't help. State officials have been forced to cut $1 billion from the state budget, including slashing funding for a series of programs that benefited troubled teenagers. In Boston, the Boston Foundation recently announced an effort to raise and spend $26 million over the next six years on specific areas of the city where crime is prevalent.
Fox said the plans for the city make him optimistic, but he remains worried about the rest of the Commonwealth.
"The state is looking to invest in programs that carry the greatest benefit, programs that don't just sound good, but programs that have data that prove they're successful," he said. "My reason for pause is that there is not a lot of money. My worry is that in these very tough economic times is that we won't invest sufficiently, that we'll delay investments, and crime doesn't wait."
Hub ranks 6th for cities with sharpest rise
By Maria Cramer, Globe Staff | December 29, 2008
A study analyzing homicides across the country shows that Boston is among six major cities that have seen the sharpest spikes in the number of young black males killing one another between 2000 and 2007, an alarming trend that comes at a time when the state is cutting back on programs geared toward helping troubled youths.
The number of black males between 14 and 24 years old who killed in the city went up 78 percent to 64 between two two-year periods, 2000 to 2001 and 2006 to 2007, according to a Northeastern University study to be released today.
Out of 28 cities analyzed, five - Houston, Las Vegas, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, and San Francisco - had sharper increases than Boston.
The Rev. William E. Dickerson II, pastor of Greater Love Tabernacle Church in Dorchester, said he hopes the study will help those living outside minority neighborhoods realize the trend among young black males is everyone's problem. Earlier this month, he presided over the funeral of a 17-year-old youth. Later, he realized that 16 years ago, he had led the funeral of the victim's father, who was gunned down when he was just a teenager.
"When Americans stop looking at black boys shooting each other and dying on the street not as a black community problem, but as an American problem, we will see a greater decrease in violence," Dickerson said.
The study shows decreases in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, but those cities have murders in the triple digits in the time period studied: Chicago went from 656 in 2000-01 to 460 in 2006-07, Los Angeles went from 300 to 233, and New York went from 555 to 436.
Most cities showed slight to large increases, contrasting sharply with the 1.3 percent decrease in murders nationwide that the FBI reported for 2007, according to the report.
It is a dichotomy that underscores the need to put more federal and state funding into community policing and into job and after-school programs that would benefit young people living in minority neighborhoods, said James Alan Fox, one of the study's authors. "The choice is ours. We can pay for programs now or pray for the victims later," he said. "We're bailing out the banks and the auto industry, but we need a youth bailout."
The study also looked at all 50 states, with only three - Delaware, Kansas, and Nebraska - showing sharper increases than Massachusetts in the number of young black male offenders. In Massachusetts, that number jumped 98 percent to 129 during the same time periods.
The number of young white males in Massachusetts who killed, meanwhile, went up 17 percent statewide, the report states. The analysis was based on homicide figures from local and federal departments.
The numbers are based on estimates because in many of the homicides, perpetrators have not been caught or identified, according to the study's authors, who used facts about the victim, including age, gender, race, and where they were killed, to determine the characteristics of the killer.
The study shows how dramatically the country shifted priorities during the first years of the 21st century, pulling financial resources away from antigang initiatives and directing them toward homeland security threats, Fox said.
Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis said the figures should be viewed in the context of the early 1990s, when the number of homicides in Boston peaked at 152 before dropping to 31 in 1999. During the 1990s, he said, the city received millions of federal dollars to combat crime and find alternatives for troubled teenagers, but that funding began to dry up after 2000.
"Those federal funds were pulled out of the city abruptly for an eight-year period and those homicide figures started to go up," Davis said. "That's not a surprise and it's something that the federal government should have to answer for."
The study notes that Boston's spike looks particularly sharp because of the huge drops in crime it experienced in the late 1990s. And while Boston has a considerably low crime rate compared with other cities its size, Fox said, it became complacent following its success battling violence.
"We have this sort of false impression that the crime problem had been solved," Fox said. "The thing about crime is you don't solve it. You just control it."
In 2007, Boston had 64 homicides, up from 39 in 2000. In 2007, more than 90 percent of the offenders in Boston used guns to kill their victims.
In the state, the number of homicides has steadily increased from 125 in 2000 to 184 in 2007, according to Fox.
Nearly half the city's 2007 homicide victims were black men 24 years old and younger, compared with 15 seven years ago. Close to a fourth of the victims killed in the state were black men 24 years old and younger.
The increases have happened as the number of white male offenders in the same age group has decreased in the city and gone up at a much slower rate in the state. But the number of white male victims 24 years old and younger has climbed. In 2007, there were 7 white male victims in Boston compared with zero in 2000. In Massachusetts, the number climbed from 19 to 27 in the same time period.
In Boston, the number of white offenders between 14 and 24 went down from 15 in 2000 and 2001 to 9 in 2006 and 2007. But in the state, the number of white male offenders in the same age group went from 70 to 82 during the same time periods.
"It's not just in somebody's else's backyard," Fox said. " 'Oh, black kids killing black kids, why do I have to worry about this?' This is a significant drain on resources in terms of police responding to this. If you don't care on a human level, then at least you care in terms of a financial resource level."
And the bleak economy won't help. State officials have been forced to cut $1 billion from the state budget, including slashing funding for a series of programs that benefited troubled teenagers. In Boston, the Boston Foundation recently announced an effort to raise and spend $26 million over the next six years on specific areas of the city where crime is prevalent.
Fox said the plans for the city make him optimistic, but he remains worried about the rest of the Commonwealth.
"The state is looking to invest in programs that carry the greatest benefit, programs that don't just sound good, but programs that have data that prove they're successful," he said. "My reason for pause is that there is not a lot of money. My worry is that in these very tough economic times is that we won't invest sufficiently, that we'll delay investments, and crime doesn't wait."
Comment