By the numbers: January homicides down more than 30% over past years

Feb. 2, 2010, 10:12 a.m.

Los Angeles County began 2010 with significantly fewer homicides in the month of January than in recent years, including a 40% drop in the city of Los Angeles, according to a Times analysis of crime data.

With homicides already at their lowest levels in decades, countywide there were 51 killings in the first month of 2010, compared with 78 homicides in January 2009, according to data gathered for the Homicide Report. There were 79 homicides in January 2008 and 81 in January 2007.

Read more on the drop from Times' reporter Richard Winton: L.A. County sees big drop in January homicides

10 reader comments

The Black and Latino communities might consider creating a course for all 5, 8 & 12 year olds where the children are instructed in other ways to settle their differences other than murder. The act of murder must be demonized and the people who engage in murder must be dealt with in the community. I know it sounds "Pollyanna-ish" but violence is glorified in these communities, a macho chic, that's all there is to it. Maybe in 10 or 20 years a light will go on in both communities and they might understand that exploitation and incitement to violence just may be what the unseen powers really want. Don't laugh, the CoIntelPro disclosures going back to the 1950's clearly demonstrate a concerted effort on the part of government intelligence agencies to foment violence in these communities. It is time the parents try to educate their children, stop glorifying violence and establishing once and for all a social stigmata that implies a weakness in character.

— contactjohn Feb. 14, 2010 at 3:42 a.m.

"B" asks if the drop in January homicides could be the result of police not taking crime reports. Homicide is traditionally considered the most reliable of the crime statistics routinely collected by the government for the base reason that it nearly -- although not always --requires the existence of a dead body. In this case, the drop in homicides was noted in data that came not from police but from the L.A. County coroner, which has a broad definition of homicide as being the death of a person by the hand of another [meaning that justifiable homicides such as police killings are included in the numbers reported by the coroner.]

That said, the question of whether any reluctance or refusal by law enforcement officials to take crime reports may play a role in dropping crime statistics has long been around and is difficult to determine.

— Megan Garvey/Los Angeles Times Feb. 6, 2010 at 6:11 p.m.

The Homicide Report

By the numbers: January homicides down more than 30% over past years

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10 reader comments