2A - The Michigan Daily - Monday, September 13, 2004 NATION/WORLD Crime rates at lowest level since 1970s NEWS IN BRIEF WASHINGTON (AP) - The crime victims per 1,000 people in 2002. crime rates have leveled off confounds The low crime rate also has made nation's crime rate last year held steady In 1993, the violent crime rate was 50 earlier studies that attributed it to such the problem much less of an issue in _ I at the lowest levels since the govern- ment began surveying crime victims in 1973, the Justice Department reported yesterday. The study was the latest contribution to a decade-long trend in which violent crime as measured by victim surveys has fallen by 55 percent and property crime by 49 percent. That has included a 14 percent drop in violent crime from 2000-2001 to 2002-2003. "The rates are the lowest expe- rienced in the last 30 years," Justice Department statistician Shannan Cat- alona said in the report. "Crime rates have stabilized." The 2003 violent crime rate - assault, sexual assault and armed rob- bery - stood at 22.6 victims for every 1,000 people age 12 and older. That amounts to about one violent crime vic- tim for every 44 U.S. residents. By comparison, there were 23 violent per 1,000 people, or about one in every 20 people. Murder is not counted because the Bureau of Justice Statistics study is based on statements by crime victims. In a separate report based on prelimi- nary police data, the FBI found a 1.3 percent increase in murders between 2002 and 2003 - from 16,200 to about 16,420. The new survey put the rate for property crimes of burglary, theft and motor vehicle theft in 2003 at 163 for every 1,000 people, compared with 159 the year before. The slight increase was not considered statisti- cally significant. A decade ago, there were about 319 property crimes per 1,000 people, the study said. There are numerous possible expla- nations for the sharp, sustained decrease in crime. But experts say the fact that things as a more mature, less violent drug trade or police tactics that focus on national political campaigns. It is almost never mentioned in campaign speeches by President Bush or Democrat high-crime areas. James Lynch, professor at Ameri- can University's Department of Jus- tice, Law and Soci- ety, said the reason that crime is down so broadly is diffi- cult to pinpoint. Two recent possi- bilities, he said, are a prison population at a record 2.1 mil- lion and the terror- ism fight's deterrent "The rates are the lowest experienced in the last 30 years. ... Crime rates have stabilized' - Shannan Catalona Justice Department statistician John Kerry, and fewer people than in past years now list crime as a top concern in opin- ion polls. The National Crime Victim- ization Survey is based on annual interviews by Census Bureau personnel with about 150,000 effect on more routine street crime. "Some of the mobilization for terror- ism issues may have put a damper on crime," Lynch said. "It has a chilling effect on a whole lot of stuff." people at least 12 years old. The FBI does a separate crime study based on reports it receives from thou- sands of law enforcement agencies nationwide. Hurricane rampages through Caribbean GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands (AP) - Hurricane Ivan battered the Cayman Islands with ferocious 150-mph winds yesterday, threatening a direct hit as it flooded homes and ripped up roofs and trees three stories high. Ivan has killed at least 60 people as it has torn a path of destruction across the Caribbean and was headed next for western Cuba, where it was expected to hit today, and could brush the Florida Keys and parts of Florida's Gulf Coast. The hurricane, which grew to the most powerful Category 5 scale with 165 mph winds Saturday, lost some strength before it began tearing into the wealthy Cayman Islands chain, a popular scuba diving destination and banking center. "It's as bad as it can possibly get," Justin Uzzell, 35, said by telephone from his fifth-floor refuge in Grand Cayman. "It's a horizontal blizzard," he said. "The air is just foam." The islands are better prepared for the punishment than Grenada and Jamaica, which were slammed by Ivan in the past week - though Jamaica was spared a direct hit Saturday. The Caymans have strict building codes and none of the shantytowns and tin shacks common elsewhere in the Caribbean. Still, emergency officials said residents from all parts of the island were report- ing roofs blown off and flooded homes as Ivan's shrieking winds and driving rain approached Grand Cayman, the largest of threislands that comp'rise thieBritish territory of 45,000 people. The government said Grand Cayman was "experiencing the most severe por- tion of Hurricane Ivan" yesterday morn- ing with peak winds of 150 mph. "We know there is damage and it is severe," said Wes Emanuel of the Gov- ernment Information Service. or parts of the state's west coast that are recovering from Hurricane Charley. Though there were no immediate reports of injuries in the Cayman Islands, the death toll elsewhere rose as hospital officials in Jamaica reported four more deaths, for a total of 15 there. At least 34 were killed in Grenada, where the hur- ricane left widespread destruction. Scat- tered deaths occurred on other islands and in Venezuela. A tropical storm watch was posted yesterday morning for the lower third of the 120-mile Florida Keys, from below Marathon through Key West and the Dry Tortugas. A mandatory evacuation was ordered for tourists and 79,000 residents in the Keys. Streets, bars, hotels and shops in Key West were mostly empty, even as officials in the Florida Keys said they were "cautiously optimistic" the hur- ricane could spare the islands from its worst winds. In Cuba, the threatened area includes densely populated Havana, where traffic was light yesterday morning as most took shelter. About 800,000 people across the island of 11.2 million had been evacuated AP PHOTO by yesterday morning, with most seeking refuge with relatives, the official Prensa ca. Latina news agency reported. "This country is prepared to face this ph and a hurricane," President Fidel Castro said oday. Saturday night. a course The storm could dump up to a foot he Flori- of rain in the Caymans, possibly caus- ast. But ing flash floods and mud slides, accord- already ing to the Hurricane Center. Its 150 mph canes in winds were just one mile below the 155 ds yet. mph-level that would make it a Category he east- 5 storm, the strongest category. it ashore With Ivan approaching, hundreds of h took a people left the Caymans on chartered Frances, flights. BAGHDAD, Iraq Insurgents kill 25 in central Baghdad Insurgents hammered central Baghdad yesterday with one of their most intense mortar and rocket barrages ever in the heart of the capital, heralding a day of vio- lence that left at least 25 people dead as security appeared to spiral out of control. Many of the dead were killed when a U.S. helicopter fired on a disabled U.S. Bradley fighting vehicle as Iraqis swarmed around it, cheering, throwing stones and waving the black and yellow sunburst banner of Iraq's most-feared terror orga- nization. The dead from the helicopter strike included Arab television reporter Mazen al-Tumeizi - who screamed "I'm dying, I'm dying" as a cameraman recorded the chaotic scene. An Iraqi cameraman working for the Reuters news agency and an Iraqi freelance photographer for Getty Images were wounded. Maimed and lifeless bodies of young men and boys lay in the street as the stricken U.S. vehicle was engulfed in flames and thick black smoke. Across the city, at least 104 people were wounded in explosions and barrages, the Health Ministry said. Strong detonations again shook the center of Baghdad after sunset yesterday. There were no reports of damage of casualties. BERLIN U.N. atomic agency confronts Iran Iran's refusal to give up uranium enrichment - and banish suspicions it seeks nuclear arms - set the stage yesterday for confrontation before a U.N. atomic watchdog agency, with the United States lobbying to have Iran taken before the Security Council for possible sanctions. Washington appeared unlikely to get its way immediately at today's meeting in Vienna, Austria, but its stand was bolstered for the longer term after European allies agreed to set a November deadline for Iran to meet international demands to sus- pend uranium enrichment and clear up other concerns about its nuclear program. In a draft resolution prepared by France, Germany and Britain, the three Euro- pean powers warned of possible "further steps" by November, the next meeting of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors. Diplomats said "further steps" was shorthand for referring Iran's case to the U.N. Security Council if the Tehran regime hindered the IAEA's nuclear probe or if it refused to suspend uranium enrichment. A top U.S. official said the Bush administration hoped for "a peaceful and diplomatic solution" in its effort to ensure Iran does not obtain atomic weapons in violation of its commitments under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. JERUSALEM Jewish settlers protest Sharon's evacuation plan Tens of thousands of Jewish settlers and their backers demonstrated in Jerusa- lem yesterday against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to evacuate all settle- ments from Gaza and four West Bank enclaves in a rally held against a backdrop of assassination threats and warnings of civil war. The withdrawal plan has upset the Israeli political scene since it was announced last year, turning Sharon's backers into opponents and detractors into supporters. Skeptical Palestinians believe the whole plan is a trick to annex large parts of the West Bank to Israel. Most of those filling Jerusalem to protest the proposed pullout were Orthodox Jews - many of them teenagers. A huge banner behind the stage set the theme: "Dis- engagement tears the people apart." Many waved blue and white Israeli flags. Though organizers pledged to prevent incitement to violence, some signs said the head of Sharon's disengagement committee would "not be forgiven." SEOUL, South Korea N. Korean explosion not nuclear, Powell says A huge mushroom cloud that reportedly billowed up from North Korea wag not caused by a nuclear explosion, South Korean and U.S. officials said yesterday, but they said the cause was a mystery. Secretary of State Colin Powell confirmed that unusual activity had recently been detected at some of North Korea's atomic sites, but said there was no concrete evidence the North's secretive communist regime was prepa r- ffx its first nuclear test explosion. The South Korean news agency Yonhap reported yesterday that a mammoth explosion in North Korea produced a mushroom cloud more than 2 miles across Thursday. It said the blast was stronger than an April explosion that killed 160 people and injured an estimated 1,300 at a North Korean railway station when a train carrying oil and chemicals apparently hit power lines. - Compiled from Daily wire reports 0 A Jamaican man looks Inside his damaged home Saturday after his house collapsed as Hurricane Ivan passed through Kingston, Jamai The airport runway was flooded and trees were wrenched from their roots, including a giant Cayman mahogany next to the government headquarters in downtown George Town. Radio Cay- man went off the air, then resumed broadcasts. At 11 p.m. last night, Ivan's eye was about 175 miles southeast of the west- ern tip of Cuba. Hurricane-force winds extended 90 miles and tropical storm- force winds out to 200 miles. Ivan was moving west-northwest near 9 m turn northwest was expected by t Ivan veered west yesterday on that would take it away from th da Keys and the state's east coa forecasters warned that Florida, slammed by two powerful hurri a month, was not out of the woo Ivan's forecast track across t ern Gulf of Mexico could takei on the Florida Panhandle, whic glancing blow from Hurricane] An idea www.michigandaily.com The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Mondays during the spring and summer terms by students at the University of Michigan. Subscriptions for fall term, starting in September, via U.S. mail are $110. Winter term (January through April) is $115, yearlong (September through April) is $195. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. Yearlong on-campus subscriptions are $40. Subscriptions must be prepaid. The Michigan Daily is a member of The Associated Press and The Associated collegiate Press. 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