Murder rate in small cities jumps 13%

Murder increased by 2.1% across the USA during the first six months of 2005 and was on track to nearly reverse a 2.4% decline recorded last year, according to preliminary FBI figures released Monday.

The largest spikes over the same period in 2004 occurred in some of the nation's smallest cities — population 10,000 or less — where homicides were up 13%, the report found.

Murder and robbery were the only major crimes to increase in the preliminary review of 10,374 agencies. The review showed overall decreases in violent and property crimes, continuing a decade-long decline.

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"Unfortunately, it looks like the small towns are playing catch-up with the big cities," said Jack Levin, a professor at the Brudnick Center on Violence and Conflict at Northeastern University in Boston. "What starts in Detroit or Chicago eventually becomes a problem in the suburbs. Crime moves where the population goes."


http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-12-19-crimerate_x.htm