NYC's Murder Rate Has Dropped Greatly Over First Half of 2013

Improvement.

None

2013 has reached its halfway point and New York City has recorded a record-low 154 murders—far less than the 252 it saw at the same time last year. That's also less than one murder per day, and law enforcement associates the drop to anti-gang strategy and, of course, stop-and-frisk.

According to NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, initiatives such as Operation Crew Cut and Operation Impact deserve credit for the low murder rate. The former employs social media to thwart gang activities; the latter sends rookie cops to violent areas to fight crime. Kelly also credits stop-and-frisk, even though it's reportedly being used less this year.

Experts are unable to explain the decrease. "What we have now is good news without a ready explanation," said UC-Berkeley law professor Franklin Zimring. There were 414 homicides recorded in New York City last year, the lowest figure since 1963 when the city first began keeping the statistic.

[via Gothamist]

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