MOST D.C. SLAYING VICTIMS HAD CRIMINAL HISTORIES

About two-thirds of adult homicide victims in Washington, D.C., last year
had an arrest history, according to an analysis of court records that casts
new light on why the city has one of the highest homicide rates in the country.

The more than 150 slayings are evidence of the cycles of violence plaguing
a city hit hard in the past two decades by drug wars and gang rivalries,
law enforcement and criminal-justice specialists said, and a blunt
statement about the risks of becoming caught up in a life on the edges of
the law.

Although the 248 killings last year were a sharp drop from the homicide
tolls of the late 1980s and early 1990s, there is a resilient "criminal
subculture" in the city, Police Chief Charles Ramsey said in an interview.
Ramsey said this group has grown so entrenched and well-armed that it poses
a risk to Washington's attempts to renew its image and create a new future
for the city's rougher neighborhoods.