波士顿有望成为自 1957 年以来凶杀案发生率最低的城市

【中美创新时报2024 年 12 月 28 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）波士顿有望在 2024 年底实现近七十年来凶杀案发生率最低的水平，这反映了全国暴力犯罪率下降的趋势，并巩固了其作为美国最安全大城市之一的地位。《波士顿环球报》记者Dan Glaun、Niki Griswold 和 Anjali Huynh 对此作了下述报道。

波士顿市政府官员周五称赞杀人案的下降是多年来改善该市警务、社会服务和暴力干预工作成果的证明。

“在我当警察的整个时间里，从我上任以来，这座城市从未像现在这样安全，尤其是犯罪，特别是暴力犯罪，”警察局长迈克尔·考克斯在新闻发布会上说。

根据波士顿警方的数据，截至 12 月 22 日，波士顿共发生 24 起凶杀案——比 2023 年下降了 33%，是 67 年来最少的。波士顿是美国类似规模城市中的异类：2023 年，肯塔基州路易斯维尔发生了 150 起凶杀案；拉斯维加斯发生了 132 起谋杀案；俄勒冈州波特兰发生了 73 起凶杀案；丹佛发生了 85 起；德克萨斯州埃尔帕索发生了 38 起。

考克斯表示，波士顿的枪支暴力也“保持在历史最低水平”，并指出 2024 年的枪击事件是自 2011 年以来该市开始“可靠地跟踪统计数据”以来的最低水平。

市长吴弭 (Michelle Wu) 将犯罪率降低主要归因于“强有力的协调领导”，并指出在城市数据收集和犯罪统计数据分析、警察招募和留任、青年就业计划以及面向年轻人的社区安全计划等领域的投资。

“这确实是全员参与的努力，”她说。这些数字并不是“庆祝胜利”的理由，而是“当我们都明白社区安全是我们共同承担的集体责任，每个人都有一份力量时，我们看到的结果”，吴说。

今年，这里并非所有犯罪都大幅减少。截至上周日，波士顿的枪击案数量下降了 7%。严重袭击报告增加了 3%，财产犯罪报告增加了 2.3%，主要原因是盗窃和商业入室盗窃，不过该市汽车盗窃和住宅入室盗窃大幅下降。

克里斯汀·科尔是一位公共安全和社区参与顾问，在波士顿拥有大约四十年的经验，她表示，这些数据在一定程度上反映了该市通过与一系列社区合作伙伴密切合作提供“一整套服务”在减少暴力方面取得的进展。

“警察不是单独行动的，非营利组织也不是单独行动的，”她说。“他们合作工作，这是这座城市文化的标志。”

尽管全国普遍认为暴力犯罪率飙升，但许多城市的凶杀案数量已大幅下降，并且多年来一直呈下降趋势。根据咨询公司 AH Datalytics 对凶杀案数据的分析，纽约、华盛顿特区和底特律等城市的凶杀案率今年均有所下降。

尽管波士顿最新的犯罪数据符合全国总体趋势，但 AH Datalytics 联合创始人杰夫·阿舍尔表示，今年的数字值得关注。

“今年只剩几天了，但假设这种趋势在未来四五天继续，波士顿的凶杀案数量和凶杀率将达到 1957 年以来的最低水平，这显然是一项成就，”阿舍尔说。

不过，阿舍尔强调，最终目标是将该市的年度凶杀案数量降至零，这与考克斯和吴周五的言论如出一辙。

“你们谈论的是每天发生的悲剧，我们仍需努力减少悲剧，”他说。 “如果波士顿没有发生谋杀案，那么你会说，‘好吧，大家干得好。’但我认为，考虑到情况的严重性和剩余挑战的巨大性……现在庆祝还为时过早。”

例如，并非每个社区都受益于该市暴力犯罪的总体下降。根据数据显示，南波士顿在 2023 年发生了两起凶杀案，今年迄今为止发生了四起。而多切斯特发生了七起凶杀案，而去年同期为四起。

代表多切斯特大部分地区的第 3 区市议员约翰·菲茨杰拉德 (John FitzGerald) 表示，暴力事件的集中程度“令人震惊”——尤其是在多切斯特的 Meeting House Hill 社区，今年夏天，该社区的凶杀案总数一度占全市的三分之一。

“这是我一年来一直在宣扬的事情，”菲茨杰拉德说。“全市的统计数据下降是件好事。但不一定全市都这样。”

菲茨杰拉德指出，多切斯特社区赞赏加大控制暴力的力度，包括部署更多警员巡逻和增加警察的可见度。但他表示，仍需加大力度，特别是解决暴力幸存者和目击者的创伤问题。

“我们可以做得更多，”他说。

考克斯指出，今年启动的安全购物工作组计划是该部门旨在应对未来暴力事件上升趋势的一种方式。作为该计划的一部分，警方与地方检察官办公室和商界领袖合作，共享信息和技术，例如安全摄像头，并协调战略。

凶杀案的下降是该市、警方和社区组织数十年努力的结果。1990 年是该市有记录以来暴力事件最多的一年，共发生 152 起凶杀案。近一半的受害者是未成年人。

多切斯特大爱会堂的牧师威廉·迪克森二世主教是最初与该市合作减少暴力事件的教会领袖之一，后来被称为“波士顿奇迹”。他说，今年的数字令人鼓舞，但警告不要自满。

“我认为今年在反暴力方面取得了一些进展，但我不希望人们固步自封，”迪克森说。“一旦你开始赞扬统计数据，就会发生一些事情。”

迪克森认为一系列社区计划有助于让孩子远离街头，防止暴力——青年体育联盟、男孩和女孩俱乐部、为从监狱返回社区的人提供的住房和培训计划，以及由改过自新的前帮派成员提供的指导。

他说，该市仍需努力确保高危儿童不会陷入困境，并为与帮派有关的青少年提供社会服务。

“我们需要一个更好的跟踪系统。我们还需要一种更好的方式与那些制造暴力的人沟通，”迪克森说。“现在你不能直接吓唬孩子们。你需要给他们希望和未来。”

题图：波士顿警察局局长 Michael Cox、波士顿市长吴弭（Michelle Wu ）和公共安全高级顾问 Isaac Yablo 在波士顿警察总部举行了有关该市最新犯罪统计数据的新闻发布会。Suzanne Kreiter/Globe 工作人员

附原英文报道：

Boston on track for fewest homicides since 1957 in ‘an all-hands-on-deck effort,’ officials say

By Dan Glaun, Niki Griswold and Anjali Huynh Globe Staff,Updated December 27, 2024 

Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, and Isaac Yablo, senior advisor for public safety, held a press conference on the city’s latest crime statistics at Boston Police Headquarters.Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff

Boston is on track to end 2024 with the fewest number of homicides in nearly seven decades, mirroring a national trend of decreased violent crime and bolstering its status as one of the safest large cities in the United States.

City officials on Friday hailed the drop in killings as validation of years of work to improve policing, social services, and violence intervention outreach in the city.

Related: In Boston, peace and anxious hope as gun violence plunges

“In the entire time that I’ve been a police officer, going back since when I came on, the city has never been safer, period, when it comes to crime, particularly violent crime,” Police Commissioner Michael Cox said at a news conference.

There were 24 homicides in Boston through Dec. 22, according to Boston Police data — a 33 percent decline from 2023 and the fewest in 67 years. Boston is an outlier among similarly sized US cities: In 2023, there were 150 homicides in Louisville, Ky.; 132 murders in Las Vegas; 73 homicides in Portland, Ore.; 85 in Denver; and 38 in El Paso, Texas.

Firearm violence in Boston, too, “remains at historic low levels,” Cox said, noting that 2024 saw the lowest instances of gunfire since 2011, when the city began “reliably tracking the statistics.”

Mayor Michelle Wu attributed the lower crime rates primarily to “strong, coordinated leadership,” pointing to investments in areas such as the city’s data collection and analysis of crime stats, police recruitment and retention, youth job programs, and community safety initiatives geared toward young people.

“It really has been an all-hands-on-deck effort,” she said. The numbers aren’t a cause for “a victory lap,” but instead a “reflection of the type of results we see when we all understand community safety to be a collective responsibility that we share, and that everyone has a part in,” Wu said.

Not all crimes here have seen sharp decreases this year. As of last Sunday, the number of shootings across Boston declined 7 percent. Reports of aggravated assaults increased 3 percent and property crime reports ticked up 2.3 percent, driven by larcenies and commercial burglaries, though the city saw substantial declines in auto thefts and residential burglaries.

Christine Cole, a public safety and community engagement consultant with around four decades of experience in Boston, said the data in part reflect the progress the city has achieved in reducing violence by working closely with a range of community partners to provide “a comprehensive set of services.”

“The police don’t act alone, nonprofits don’t act alone,” she said. “They work in partnership, and that’s a hallmark of the culture of this city.”

Despite a general perception nationally that the violent crime rate has skyrocketed, many cities have seen significant decreases in homicides and have been trending downward over the years. According to an analysis of homicide data by the consulting firm AH Datalytics, the homicide rates in cities such as New York, Washington, D.C., and Detroit, for example, have all decreased this year.

Still, while Boston’s latest crime stats fit into the overall national trend, this year’s numbers are notable, said Jeff Asher, cofounder of AH Datalytics.

“There’s a few days left in the year, but assuming that you see that trend continue for the next four or five days, that would put Boston with the fewest murders and lowest murder rate that the city’s recorded since 1957, which is obviously an achievement,” Asher said.

Still, Asher emphasized the ultimate goal of bringing the city’s annual homicide count to zero, echoing remarks Cox and Wu made Friday.

“You’re talking about a daily tragedy that we still have work to do to draw down,” he said. “If Boston had zero murders, then you’d say, ‘OK, job well done, everybody.’ But I think that, given the seriousness and given the the immensity of the challenge remaining … it’s early to be kind of celebrating.”

For example, not every neighborhood benefited from the city’s overall drop in violent crime. South Boston saw two homicides in 2023, and four so far this year, according to the data. And there have been seven homicides in Dorchester, compared with four over the same period last year.

District 3 City Councilor John FitzGerald, who represents most of Dorchester, said the concentration of violence has been “jarring” — particularly in the neighborhood of Meeting House Hill in Dorchester, which at one point this summer accounted for a third of the city’s homicide total.

“This is something I’ve sort of been preaching all year,” FitzGerald said. “It’s great that stats are down across the city. But not necessarily for the entire city.”

The Dorchester community has appreciated increased efforts to control violence, FitzGerald noted, including the deployment of additional officers to walk beats and increase police visibility. But he said additional efforts are still needed, particularly to address trauma among survivors and witnesses of violence.

“We could be doing a lot more,” he said.

Cox pointed to the Safe Shopping Task Force initiative launched this year as one way the department aims to combat that uptick in the future. As part of the initiative, the police partnered with the district attorney’s office and business leaders to share access to information and technology such as security camera feeds, as well as coordinate strategy.

The drop in homicides follows decades of effort by the city, police, and community organizations. In 1990, the city’s most violent year on record, there were 152 homicides. Nearly half of the victims were minors.

Bishop William Dickerson II, the pastor of Greater Love Tabernacle in Dorchester, was part of the original group of church leaders who worked with the city to reduce violence, in what came to be known as the “Boston Miracle.” He said this year’s numbers are encouraging but warned against complacency.

“I think there’s been some progress this year in terms of anti-violence efforts, but I don’t want people to rest on their laurels,” Dickerson said. “As soon as you start praising stats, something happens.”

Dickerson credited an array of community programs with helping keep kids off the streets and preventing violence — youth sports leagues, Boys & Girls Clubs, housing and training programs for people returning to their communities from prison, and mentoring by former gang members who had cleaned up their lives.

He said the city still has work to do ensuring that at-risk kids don’t fall through the cracks, and providing social services to gang-affiliated youth.

“We need a better tracking system. We also need a better way of communicating with the ones that are causing the violence,” Dickerson said. “You can’t scare the kids straight these days. You need to give them hope and a future.”