'Lay Down Your Weapons'

WASHINGTON, July 28, 2006 — -- After a decade of declining crime rates across the country, violent crime is now on the rise with many of the violent acts committed by young people.

The problem is mainly affecting cities, including Philadelphia where there have been 226 murders in the first seven months of this year.

On Thursday Philadelphia Mayor John Street went on live television with an urgent appeal to the city's youth saying, "You are the future of this city. Lay down your weapons."

Philadelphia is far from alone. Across the nation, violence has been surging. In the Seattle area, for example, there has been one murder a day for nine days running.

In Phoenix two serial killers have left residents terrified, and in Newark, N. J., the murder rate is up 9 percent so far this year.

"We have to as a city invest more in our young people," Newark Mayor Cory Booker said.

Here in the nation's capital, a crime emergency has been declared. There has been a murder a day for 15 days straight, with youths blamed for a range of crimes.

"Forty percent of all the people we arrest for robbery are juveniles in the District of Columbia," said Police Chief Charles Ramsey. "It's a huge problem for us here and it doesn't seem to be getting any better."

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"A gun in the hands of a teenager is a very deadly combination," Northeastern University criminologist James Alan Fox said. "Kids tend to be trigger-happy. They tend to pull the trigger even over a seemingly trivial issue."

The juvenile crime problem in Jackson, Miss., has become so bad, the mayor spends four nights a week patrolling the streets armed with pistols and a shotgun.

Across the country funds for after-school programs have been systematically cut. Gangs flourish, and more violent offenders are getting out of prison as the number of police officers on the nation's streets declines, by 8 percent from 2000 to 2004.

"The choices are either pay for the programs now or pray for the victims later," Fox said.

But for so many, it's already too late.