The Recent Surge in Homicides involving Young Black Males and Guns: Time to Reinvest in Prevention and Crime Control, December 2008, James Alan Fox, Ph.D., The Lipman Family Professor of Criminal Justice, and Professor of Law, Policy & Society and Marc L. Swatt, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Northeastern University
Summary of Findings: “While overall homicide levels in the United States have fluctuated minimally in recent years, those involving young victims and perpetratorsparticularly young black maleshave surged. From 2002 to 2007, the number of homicides involving black male juveniles as victims rose by 31% and as perpetrators by 43%. In terms of gun killings involving this same population subgroup, the increases were even more pronounced: 54% for young black male victims and 47% for young black male perpetrators. The increase in homicide among black youth, coupled with a smaller increase or even decrease among their while counterparts, was consistently true for every region of the country and nearly all population groupings of cities. The pattern also held individually for a majority of states and major cities.”
From related New York Times article: “One problem we faced was a disinvestment in policing in the post-2001 environment, said Chief Edward A. Flynn of the Milwaukee police, who served from 2003 to 2006 as secretary of public safety in Massachusetts. I witnessed homeland security become the monster that ate criminal justice, Chief Flynn said, as money went to security equipment and communications and the number of police officers fell.”
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