Murder victims, suspects share familiar traits - baltimoresun.com

Murder victims, suspects share familiar traits - baltimoresun.com

"As the number of killings in Baltimore dipped last year to its lowest level in decades, one trend remained constant: Those accused of killing and their victims had been in and out of the criminal justice system.

More than 90 percent of the 71 people arrested on murder charges and 80 percent of the 196 people who were slain last year had criminal records, according to Baltimore police statistics released Monday. More than half the suspects had previous gun arrests, and four in 10 were on parole or probation.

"It is further evidence that violence sticks to violence," said city police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi, noting that the trend has been steady for years. "The vast number of cases that we deal with are bad guys versus bad guys. What we have to do is put those people behind bars."

These numbers helped compose a portrait of violence on city streets in 2011, which according to police showed double-percentage point drops in several categories.

Many of last year's statistics remained virtually unchanged from years past. The overwhelming number of victims, 183, were black, as were the suspects, 66. More than half the victims were between the ages 18 and 29, and 181 were male. Handguns continued to be the choice of murder weapon, in 149 killings.

Most people, 112, were killed on public streets. Police didn't uncover a motive in 156 homicides, though they said most involved drugs or people connected to the drug business. Twelve people were killed in robberies, 11 during arguments and six in domestic disputes.

The number of juveniles killed went up from 12 in 2010 to 14 last year, but was significantly lower than the 27 slain in 2007. Overall, Baltimore saw the fewest number of killings since 1977. The number of people fatally stabbed jumped 16 percent from 2010, with 32 last year.

Finishing with fewer than 200 killings was a symbolic threshold for city leaders, who last reached a similar milestone — under 300 — in 2000. Overall, police say violent crime in the city was down 6 percent, gun-related killings were down 13 percent and nonfatal shootings were down 9 percent. Property crime, including burglaries, rose 4 percent."