| A recent Wall Street Journal article called, "Murder | | | | studied the death certificates of his victims and |
| Spike Poses Quandary" talks about how criminologists | | | | realized that 60 percent of them had quit school over |
| are offering a number of explanations for an increase | | | | a five-year period. |
| in the murder rate in some cities over the last month. In | | | | There are a number of organizations that are trying to |
| Washington in April 2008 there were 18 murders during | | | | do something about the negative aspects in their |
| a 13 day violence spurt, 20 percent deadlier than one | | | | communities, including Children of the City in Brooklyn |
| year ago. | | | | who believe that improving the quality of life involves |
| Other cities including Chicago and Philadelphia had | | | | breaking the cyclical effects of poverty, therefore |
| similar murder waves during the same period. This | | | | giving families hope. In this community alone there is a |
| leads criminologists to wonder if this signifies the srat | | | | 48 percent high school drop out rate. With 30,000 |
| of a new trend. People studying crime tell us they can | | | | children, that means 15,000 are dropping out. One in |
| see no easy explanations, other than the usual usual | | | | three families are under the poverty level. A culture of |
| reasons like poverty, gangs, easy access to guns and | | | | drugs and gang, 1,000 deaths annually. Kids are into |
| the economy. | | | | violent acts like selling drugs. |
| Murder rate statistics overall have dropped for years, | | | | They believe that the only way to fix the problem is |
| but lately have been inching up in the black community | | | | via educating kids and their families. For more than two |
| -- accounting for only 13 percent of the country's | | | | and a half decades, this group of volunteers has been |
| population. However more African-Americans are killed | | | | making a difference through programs like its Create |
| in the U.S. than any other racial group, and it accounts | | | | Success program, countering the near 50 percent drop |
| for 49 percent of all murder victims, states the FBI. | | | | out rate and instigating positive change. |
| One county medical examiner in Cincinnati who | | | | The best news is that almost half of the kids enrolled |
| analyzed all the available data on his region's most | | | | in the education program believe that it helped deter |
| recent murder victims thinks that the reason is lack of | | | | them from drugs. |
| education. This Hamilton County medical examiner | | | | |