NEW YORK CITY RECORDS LOWEST MURDER RATE IN YEARS

New York City has reached its lowest per-capita murder rate in decades with 290 people killed in the city in 2017. According to Police Commissioner James O’Neill, the last time the murder rate was lower was during the Korean War. In 1990, there were 2,245 murders. O’Neill said it had been assumed that the murder rate in the city could not drop lower than 300.

Other cities have seen a sharp increase in murder rates including Chicago with 650 and Baltimore with 343. There was a drop in other types of crime in New York City as well including grand larcenies auto, robberies, shootings and burglaries. According to Mayor Bill de Blasio, the last year in which crime was so low was 1951. Overall, crime dropped 5.4 percent from 2016. There were more than 102,000 reported crimes in 2016 compared to 96,517 in 2017.

The city did report an increase of 0.3 percent in rapes. There was also an increase in the number of crimes committed on the subway. The police department’s chief of crime control strategies said authorities are determined to bring down the number of rapes as well.

A person who is facing charges for violent crimes of this nature might want to talk to an attorney about a strategy for defense. In developing one, it will be important to understand what kind of evidence the prosecution has. For example, it might be possible to dispute some types of evidence, such as some eyewitness accounts, if the case goes to trial. A defendant might also have the option of accepting a plea bargain. In such a case, a defendant often avoids a trial and pleads guilty in exchange for a lighter sentence.