LA's Homicide Rate Lowest In Four Decades
Larumbe's 15-year-old daughter Griselda says they don't hear as much gunfire or see as much gang graffiti as they used to. "Before, there used to be lots more gangsters," she says. "They're not doing much damage anymore." Jesus notes that the gang members don't even look the same as before.
"You don't see those people with their pants down to there," he says, pointing to his knees. "They now wear skinny jeans."
But the crime decline is not just a new fashion trend. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced there were 297 homicides in Los Angeles last year, a huge drop from the more than 1,000 slayings in 1992, the height of a massive drug epidemic.
Criminologists have various theories on the decrease of homicides, from changes in demographics to economic factors. But experts can only speculate, and they can't predict if the downward trend will continue. Copyright 2011 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/
Kleiman says that's calmed down because "a lot of the people who would be committing murder in L.A. are dead, and the rest are doing life in prison."
