GUNS, DRUGS BLAMED FOR HOMICIDE RATE

Alabama Ranks Third Nationally In Homicides

Mobile is the 14th deadliest city in the nation, and Alabama's homicide
rate ranks third among all other states, according to new crime statistics
from the FBI.

Despite its high ranking, Mobile -- which tied with Flint, Mich., with 11.6
homicides per 100,000 people -- did not top the list in Alabama. Birmingham
- -- with 11.9 homicides per 100,000 people -- had the highest homicide rate
of any metropolitan area in the state and ranked 12th in the nation.

Three of the cities ahead of Birmingham and Mobile on that list, however,
are in Puerto Rico. Taking that into consideration, Birmingham's homicide
rate ranks 9th and Mobile's 11th in the continental United States.

The figures are part of the FBI's Uniform Crime Report for 2001. The report
initially was issued earlier this year, but a final, comprehensive version
was released this week. Law enforcement agencies across the nation
voluntarily submit statistics to the FBI, which compiles the annual report.

Last year Mobile's homicide rate more than doubled, from 20 in 2000 to 42
in 2001, according to the FBI report. But officials have pointed out that
the 2000 total was the lowest in any year since 1967.

Mobile police blamed the increase in deaths on a proliferation of guns and
drugs. Gunfire killed more than three-quarters of the victims, and illegal
drugs played a role in more than half of the homicides recorded in Mobile
in 2001, police said.

"I have been expressing alarm at the staggering increase in violent crime,"
said Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson Jr.

"We have a terrible problem in this county with illegal alco hol, illegal
drugs, illegal guns, illegal use of guns, domestic violence and domestic
irresponsibility," Tyson said.

And while unemployment and a faltering economy are no defense for crime,
Tyson said, those factors increase people's general stress levels.

When people are coping with losing their jobs or are struggling to make
ends meet, any additional stress -- such as an argument -- can be "the
straw that breaks the camel's back, especially when viewed through the
bottom of a beer bottle" or under the influence of an illegal drug, Tyson said.

So far this year, Mobile has recorded 35 homicides, according to Cpl. Pat
Mitchell, a Police Department spokesman. Last year at this time, there had
been 38 homicides reported.

Statewide, Alabama trailed only Louisiana and Mississippi in killings.
Louisiana and Mississippi reported 11.2 and 9.9 homicides per 100,000,
respectively. The Alabama total was 8.5 per 100,000.

John Sloan, a criminal justice professor at the University of Alabama at
Birmingham, said it's not unusual for regions of the Deep South to lead the
nation in killing rates.

Some experts point to the history of dueling and the gun culture of the
South and far West as a cause for high rates of murder, he said.

"They have argued that there is a subculture of violence," said Sloan.
"They point to a culture that says, 'Guns are good.'"

Alabama ranked 18th nationally in overall crime, 22nd in violent crime and
19th in property crime.

Anniston had the highest overall crime rate in Alabama, with 145 crimes per
1,000 residents. Other cities in the top five included Fairfield, Prichard,
Oxford and Birmingham.

Overall crime rates can be misleading, though. Tuscaloosa's 2000 statistics
provide a good example of that, experts say.

"Tuscaloosa has the nation's highest crime rate, based on the latest FBI
statistics, but don't worry: The city appears to be a victim of its own
accuracy," the Associated Press reported in the last months of 2001.

The article explained that Tuscaloosa police have a policy of reporting
nearly every incident of illegal activity, including every time someone
drives away from a gas station without paying. Gas station drive-offs
accounted for nearly half of the illegal incidents reported by that city
for the FBI's 2000 report.

Cities have the option of choosing which crimes to report, and incidents
like gas drive-offs aren't always included. Further, if some cities wanted
to say that their crime went down, they wouldn't report certain crimes at
all, according to Carol Roberts at the Alabama Criminal Justice Information
Center, which compiles information for the FBI.

(The Associated Press con tributed to this report.)