What's Behind the New Violent Crime Wave?

Here's a report from the Cincinnati Enquirer on the Queen City's dramatic increase in homicides: From a recent low of 40 in 2000, the city has already suffered 79 murders to date, tying last year's total, with the thick of the holiday season yet to come. The city's postwar record for killings, 82, was set in 1950.

Cincinnati's trend is being seen in other small-to-mid-size cities. According to a new Time story:

Not only did crime suddenly begin to rise in 2005, but the most violent crimes led the trend. Homicides shot up 3.4%. Robberies, 3.9%. Aggravated assaults, 1.8%. Hardest hit were not metropolises like New York City and Los Angeles but cities with populations between 400,000 and 1 million–such as Baltimore, Md.; Charlotte, N.C.; St. Louis, Mo.; and Oakland, Calif.–and this year looks to see similar rates of increase, if not worse.

Time runs through some of the likely reasons for the surge in crime: More young men, who are most likely to commit crime, around due to demographic shifts; relatively depressed economies in places such as Cincinnati, Milwaukee, and St. Louis; fewer cops on the streets and more parolees on same.

Whole story here.