Crime Boom

The call for law-and-order has literally become a battle cry in America. In 1972 citizens took heart that some headway was being made in the battle against criminals; the figures for serious crime showed a drop of 4% that year. By 1973, however, the percentages were climbing again, and they are still going up. Last week the Federal Bureau of Investigation released its statistics for 1974: crime in seven major categories-jumped 17% above the 1973 figures--the highest annual rise since 1960.

The biggest increase was not in urban areas. In towns with populations of 100,000 or more, the increase in the number of reported crimes was 13%, four points below the national average; in the nation's six largest cities, the increase was 10%. The big jump came beyond city limits. The suburbs (reported crime up 20%) and rural areas (21%) seemed to be catching up to big cities. Actually, they are still behind, since they started from a much lower base. Everywhere, the trend indicated more crimes against property: larceny-theft was up 20%, burglary 17%.

The statistics tell only part of the story. The Justice Department calculates that about one-third of all violent crimes go unreported, an estimate that some legal experts think is far too low. Attorney General Edward H. Levi pessimistically terms the increase "predictable" and calls for greater attention to the deterrence of criminal acts. As a first step, Levi called for a new federal gun-control law that would ban possession of hand guns on the streets of high crime cities.

* Murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft and auto theft.

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