CRIMINOLOGIST EXPLAINS REASONS BEHIND RISING MURDER RATE

Local residents who consider the right to bear arms a basic freedom
will probably be relieved to know a noted criminologist places the
responsibility for murder on individuals, not weapons.

"It's not just guns. You can't blame it all on firearms," Dr. Jack
Levin said Thursday. "There are guns everywhere."

He pointed out that in single-victim crimes, even when a
semiautomatic weapon is used, the pistol is usually only fired once.

He said the problem is there are "handguns in the hands of youngsters
who shouldn't have them."

Speaking at Northeast State Community College, Levin, a Northeastern
University professor and director of the Brudnick Center on Violence
and Conflict in Boston, said he had been studying murder for 25 years
for two reasons.

The first reason he listed is homicide is widely regarded as the most
serious form of crime.

Secondly, he called murder the most reliable crime statistically.

"You can hide rapes in statistics - lots of victims don't report it.
Aggravated assault may look like simple assault," Levin said.

One notable period of low homicide rates was between the 1950s and
1965. With baby boomers creating a huge number of teenagers in the
population, Levin described it as the "Leave it to Beaver" generation.

And while the rate rose and fell after that time, "in 1986, nobody
expected the murder rate was going to spike again," he said.

He said the increase was attributable to the Reagan administration's
"War on Drugs."

Levin explained that during that time a large number of adult drug
dealers were incarcerated, creating a "vacuum" in the drug market
that was filled by teenagers.

He said these youths were not carrying semiautomatic weapons, but
small, easily concealed revolvers.

"There's a big difference in a firearm in the hand of a 14-year-old
as opposed to a 44-year-old," Levin said, adding that during that
time period there were several incidents of individuals being struck
and killed by stray bullets.

"Killing to protect their drug market is a big part of it," Levin said.

He said many were gang members, something "we should've been looking
at for the last few years."

He said the homicide rate is going up because there are more and more
gang members.

Many who have been jailed are now being released "and they're coming
back with a vengeance."

But he added this was almost exclusively in major cities.

Levin said that at one time gangs were composed of teenagers, but
gangs are becoming more like organized crime in that often
individuals are in a gang for life.

But there are other factors involved in the number of juveniles
committing homicide.

"It has become not only acceptable, but approved of and considered
necessary, if you are disrespected to retaliate with firearms. There
are some who will kill you even for what they consider a challenging
glance," Levin said.

Today Levin will be speaking to representatives of local law
enforcement agencies at Virginia Intermont College in Bristol.