Murders of U.S. black youngsters have risen 39 percent since 2000 and 2001, according to a report out Monday.
Homicides in which blacks aged 14 to 17 years old were the victims rose to 927 over the two-year period of 2006-07, the last years for which statistics are available, compared with 666 during2000-01, according to the study released by criminal-justice professors at Boston's Northeastern University.
The 39-percent increase is much greater than the rise in overall homicides, which jumped 7.4 percent from 2000-01 to 2006-07.
The 2000-07 rate of increase among black teens was more than twice the rate of increase among white teens, the study found.
An overwhelming proportion of the killings involve black-on-black crime.
The reasons for high rates of violence in African-American communities have been the subject of debate among criminologists.
Some attribute it to the migration of the so-called "prison culture", with large numbers of incarcerated young men returning to their communities.
Experts also said another reason is that the cuts in law-enforcement programs and activities geared toward youth disproportionately affect African-Americans.
Source:Xinhua
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