Murder, Suicide Rates Up in Parts of U.S.

[source: Reuters]

The finding, published on Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was based on data from the first six states to take part in the federal agency's national violent-death reporting system.

The overall murder rate in these states -- Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, South Carolina and Virginia -- jumped 6 percent between 2000 and 2002 and another 4 percent between 2002 and 2003, to 5.49 per 100,000 people, the CDC said.

The rising murder rates were fueled by a jump in homicides among males under the age of 25, mimicking the trend of the 1980s and early 1990s, when U.S. murder rates also increased.

The suicide rate was stable in the six states between 2000 and 2002, but it rose 5 percent between 2002 and 2003, to 9.37 per 100,000. The increase was largely due to rises in self-inflicted deaths among women of all ages.

Some sociologists have tied rising murder and suicide rates to changes in the economy as well as a greater availability of drugs and guns. The U.S. economy grew robustly for much of the 1990s, but fell into recession in March 2001 and the job market was sluggish even after the recession ended in November of that year.

emphasis added is mine... these are not signs of growth in a civilized nation.