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A new study for the first time confirms what many law
enforcement officials have long felt: Street gangs are
responsible for the rising homicide rate in New Jersey.
More than half of the state's 1,230 homicides from 2003 to
2005 were gang or "gang-like" and those killings were
increasing -- from 168 in 2003 to 258 in 2005 -- when
other types of homicides remained stable, according to the
analysis, which provides the richest and most textured
view of violent deaths in the state.
"Gang and gang-like behavior is driving the trend in
homicides in New Jersey," said Katherine Hempstead,
director of the health department's Office of Injury
Surveillance and Prevention and Center for Health
Statistics, which oversees the reporting system.
The climb in homicides committed with firearms this decade
has mirrored the surge in gang activity in New Jersey, but
connecting the two statistically has proven difficult
because police cannot always associate a particular
homicide with gang activity.
The state Department of Health and Senior Services, using
data collected through0 the New Jersey Violent Death
Reporting System, examined death certificates, coroner
exams and police reports to find killings that were
gang-related or "gang-like" -- those with similar
characteristics but that have been classified by police as
"drive-by," "drug-related," or "innocent bystander."
Hempstead said street gangs were behind a portion of these
homicides, but that others were carried out by those "who
aren't necessarily related to gangs" but adopt the gang
style of violence -- drive-by shootings, killing in public
places or using a certain weapon.
The report released yesterday found that nearly 80 percent
of the gang and "gang-like" homicides occurred in just
eight of New Jersey's major urban areas, including the
region encompassing Newark, Irvington and East Orange, and
the city of Elizabeth.
Separately, the report found suicides accounted for the
majority of violent deaths during the three years it
studied. There were 1,758 suicides in New Jersey during
that time, an average of 586 per year.
Men committed suicide far more often than women and it was
most commonly associated with a mental health problem.
Adolescents, however, were most likely to kill themselves
after recent crises and relationship problems with family,
friends or an intimate partner.
Federal and state law enforcement experts said the report
takes an innovative approach to capturing the effects of
street gangs and the violence they employ to guard their
turf. Such methodologies, they said, are necessary to
overcome a lack of standardized definitions of
gang-related homicides and the unevenness of reporting by
police in different departments.
"It sounds legitimate to me to understand the role of
gangs in this perpetration of violence," said Jane A.
Siegel, chair of the Rutgers-Camden Department of
Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice.
The experts said it follows other studies, which have
found half of all Los Angeles homicides are related to
gangs. In addition, a recent National Youth Gang Survey
found that 20 percent of homicides nationwide are
gang-related even though they tend to occur in larger
cities.
Attorney General Anne Milgram said the study "underscores
why the administration developed the governor's anti-crime
strategy for safe streets and neighborhoods with its prime
goal to reduce gang and gun violence." The $48 million
initiative aims to increase the use of technology by
police to better combat gangs, to give children
alternative programs to keep them from entering gangs and
to help convicts adjust after they leave prison.
Hempstead said she hopes the report will be used to
customize approaches to suicide prevention and gang
problems.
"Prevention strategies ought to be customized and
addressed for different age factors," she said.
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