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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126282968835719045.html

Violent crime in Los Angeles hit its lowest level in more than half a 
century last year, one of a growing number of U.S. cities reporting its 
streets were remarkably safe in 2009.

Washington, D.C., finished the year with 143 killings, the lowest tally in 
the nation's capital since 1966. San Francisco reported 45 homicides last 
year, its lowest in 48 years. New York, Chicago, Boston and Dallas also 
reported dramatic year-over-year declines in 2009 compared with 2008.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced Wednesday there had been 
314 homicides in 2009 -- the lowest number of killings since 1967, when 
there were 281. In 2005, 489 people were killed in the city. Los Angeles 
also saw declines in rapes, robberies and assaults in 2009, compared with 
the previous year.

Violent crimes nationwide -- including homicide, forcible rape, robbery 
and aggravated assault -- have been shrinking since 2007, after a slight 
increase in 2006, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 
Killings dropped 4.4% in 2008 from 2007. Preliminary FBI statistics for 
the first six months of 2009 showed homicides were down 10%.

Reported statistics showed the greatest drop in cities with populations 
greater than a million people. Violent crime in those cities fell 7% in 
the first six months of the year; homicides were down 13.4% compared with 
the same period in 2008.

Experts believe the fall in violent crime is tied to the aging U.S. 
population.

"The graying of America is a significant factor," said James Alan Fox, 
Lipman Professor of Criminal Justice at Northeastern University in Boston. 
"The largest and fastest growing segment of the population is people over 
50. People over 50 also happen to be the age group that is the least 
likely to commit crimes. As the group grows, crime rates do decline."

Prof. Fox said a common assumption that crime goes up during a recession 
is wrong. Historic data show there is little connection between economic 
conditions and crime, particularly violent crime.

Prof. Fox said the crimes most likely to increase during a recession were 
such offenses as fraud, check forgeries and insurance schemes.

In Chicago, there were 453 homicides between Jan. 1 and Dec. 27 last year, 
according to preliminary figures from the police department, down 11% from 
509 over the same period in 2008. The number of killings has fallen 
steadily from about 900 a year in the early 1990s until 2007, when they 
hit 442.

In New York, police reported 466 homicides in 2009, down 10.9% from 2008.

Dallas also hit historical lows last year with 166 homicides, according to 
Dallas police. It was the lowest number of killings there since 1967, when 
the city registered 133. The homicide rate in 2009, which is based on the 
population, is the lowest the city has seen in 51 years. Killings in the 
city have dropped by 33% in the last five years.


-- 
Nancy Pelosi, Democrat criminal, accessory before and after the fact, to 
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel of New York's 
million dollar tax evasion.  Charles B. Rangel is still under 
"investigation" by a "closed door" House Ethics Committee.

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