D.C. Murder Rate Up for First Time in Years

For the first time since 2008, the murder rate in the nation’s capital has gone up.

Last year, the District recorded 88 homicides. As of Dec. 17 there have been 103 murders.

That number includes the 12 people killed during the Navy Yard shooting in September, but even excluding those deaths, that would bring the year-to-date total to 91, three more than in all of 2012 --with two weeks to go in 2013.

D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said most violent crimes have gone down, but two categories, including homicides, have seen an increase.

“We still have some challenges, we’ve seen an increase in domestic violence and that’s troubling because we’ve seen that go down year after year," Lanier said. "A lot of those domestic violence cases are children, so very troubling."

She said the domestic violence cases have contributed to the murder rate as well.

“We’ve had four or five children, infants under [the age of] 4 killed as result of domestic violence so there’s still a lot of work to do, Lanier said.

Lanier pointed out that street shootings and gang violence have both decreased.

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