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- NATION, Page 53American NotesHOMICIDEAnother Bloody Year
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- If the U.S. is fighting a war on drugs, drugs appear to be
- winning. In at least seven major cities, new homicide records
- were set in 1989, in some cases breaking standards established
- only twelve months ago, and many of the killings were
- drug-related. New York City, as usual, had the most murders --
- 1,773 by late November, 19 more than in 1988 -- though less
- than the record 1,896 reached in 1988. Washington, D.C., led
- the list on a per capita basis, with at least 433 killings for
- its population of 629,000, vs. 369 murders last year.
- Philadelphia; New Orleans; Kansas City, Mo.; Milwaukee;
- Charlotte, N.C.; and New Haven have also logged record numbers
- of slayings.
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- Experts almost unanimously blame drugs for the homicide
- surge. "What's different now than in the late '70s and early
- '80s?," asks New York Assistant Police Chief Raymond Kelly.
- "Crack."
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