Las Vegas homicide rate holds steady

Keith Paul

Wednesday, July 5, 2000 | 11:03 a.m.

Unlike many other major cities that are experiencing a marked increase in the number of homicides so far this year, Las Vegas' number is holding relatively steady.

There were 52 homicides in Metro Police's jurisdiction during the first six months of this year compared to 50 at the same time last year. There were 113 homicides in the Las Vegas Valley in 1999, down substantially from 1996's record 168 slayings.

"We're just about even with last year even considering the continuing increase in population and (that) the homicide rates seem to be going up in some other places six months into the year," said Lt. Wayne Petersen, Metro's homicide unit commander.

Major cities such as Baltimore, Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York and Philadelphia have seen the number of slayings increase in the first six months of the year. New Orleans, which had recorded a decrease in recent years, has had 110 homicides compared to 80 at the same time last year.

After nearly nine years of falling crime rates, some cities may have bottomed out with lower homicides numbers and will start seeing some increases, said Alfred Blumstein, a criminal justice professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

"They've been coming down in a fairly straight line since 1991, and it is obvious that could not continue," he said. "Las Vegas appears to have flattened out. The question becomes if it goes up or continues."

Las Vegas' homicide numbers this year do show a dramatic drop in the number of domestic violence homicides from last year when 31 percent of the 113 slayings were attributed to domestic violence, Petersen said. So far this year only five of the 52 slayings are believed to be related to domestic violence.

Blumstein says that a decrease in the number of young criminals appears to be one of the factors behind the nationwide trend toward lower homicide rates.

There was a major increase in people under 25 years old committing homicides with guns from 1985 through 1993 before a decline as police and others started targeting youthful offenders, Blumstein said.

But this year there have been several young people killed and accused of homicides in the Las Vegas area.

On consecutive days in February, two teenagers were killed with a 17-year-old and a 21-year-old accused in one of the homicides. In March a 16-year-old was killed by a shot from a passing car. Two teenagers are being sought in connection with that killing.

In January three men under the age of 21 were killed by gunshots.

But so far, Las Vegas has been spared a killing spree like last year's slaying of four people inside an Albertson's grocery store.

Criminologists have various theories on why the national numbers dropped for so many years.

Steve Levitt, a University of Chicago economics professor who specializes in criminal justice issues, actually expects a long-term drop in violent crime. He said unabated prison growth has removed violent offenders from society and is serving as a deterrent.

Metro Police has two units that specialize in finding felons on the streets and adding to the prison population. The fugitive unit -- along with the multi-agency Criminal Apprehension Team -- spend all of their time hunting for wanted people.

Police are unsure if catching up with felons has actually affected the area's homicide total, but they know that violent criminals may return to their old ways during any crime.

"That's something that we'll never know. If they are allowed to continue to commit crimes, the potential for eventually hurting or killing someone is certainly there," Lt. Jim Moses said. "We can only venture to say that with more felons on the streets, the crime rate is going to be higher."