New York City has fewest murders, shootings in history in 2013

[hrmjustin]

Eyewitness News
NEW YORK (WABC) -- Mayor Bloomberg says his last year in office has the fewest murders and shootings in the city's recorded history.

There were 332 homicides in 2013, down 20 percent from last year's record low. There were 1,093 shootings, down another 20 percent from last year.

These numbers are the lowest since the city started keeping such records in the 1960s.

In New York City, incarceration levels have also decreased by 36 percent, despite an increase of three percent nationwide since 2001.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/politics&id=9373674

[NYC_SKP]

1. I wish there was more to the story, wonder to what factors his office attibutes the data.

It's impressive, but the city has had very strict policies against owning and carrying firearms for quite a while.

Good news in any event, and very impressive, though the data only goes back to 1960.

Still impressive.

[Lucky Luciano]

2. This is one article I found on the reduced incarceration rates

http://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/publications/How_NYC_Reduced_Mass_Incarceration.pdf

They discussed the police focus on low level misdemeanor charges instead of felonies. Perhaps those who would get felonies are caught with a misdemeanor before their "big bust" and this sets them straight? Also, other quality of life issues were targeted like prostitution, loitering, and vandalism. I guess clearing that crud out also prevents potentially worse things from happening.

On NY1 today (Bloomberg was touting a specific program) and near the end of this article there were some discussions about certain programs designed to reduce incarceration and set people on a better path.