Murders way up this year

From the Village Voice:

Well, of course, it's too early to really tell how the year is going to go, but so far, the murder rate here in the Big Apple is up 23 percent, according to this week's NYPD stats.

Through March 21, there have been 97 murders this year so far, compared to 79 at the same time last year. Thirty-nine of those killings took place over the past four weeks, compared to 24 during the same period last year.

Three other crime categories are also on the rise so far: Rape is up 11 percent, assault is up 6 percent, and burglary is up 4 percent. Robbery shows a slight 1 percent decline.