Baltimore City and Prince George’s County accounted for over 75 percent of all Maryland murders in the past two decades, despite making up less than a third of the population, a Capital News Service analysis shows.

In total, 8,787 of the 11,375 murders from 1985-2006 in Maryland took place in one of the two areas, according Maryland State Police uniform crime reports.

Rosie Gross lived in Baltimore during these years, 30 in total, and has seen a lot of changes in her southwest city neighborhood.

Walking home one night in early March, Gross’ 18-year-old grandson, Deandre Davis, was shot. He’s since been paralyzed in a hospital bed, she said.

“It just seems like this is something that happens almost every night,” Gross said. “I think things are getting steadily worse.”

Gross is right when she says shootings and murders are happening daily in Baltimore and Prince George’s. But statistics have shown that murder rates haven’t increased very much in either area over the past two decades, nor have they significantly decreased.

In 2006, nearly 16 of every 100,000 citizens in Prince George’s were murdered, up from 15 in 1990. In Baltimore, the number was 44, up from 41 during the same time frame.

Baltimore and Prince George’s combined population is 1,472,681, or about 26 percent of the state’s 5,615,727, according to census figures.

Baltimore has historically dwarfed Prince George’s in number of murders, accounting for 54.9 percent of all murders in the state since 1985.

Prince George’s seems determined to make up for lost time with an extraordinary increase in murder levels so far in 2007.

In 2005, Prince George’s had a record-high 164 murders. That number dropped last year to 134, but 2007’s rate seems destined to surpass the record. As of mid-April, there were 48 murders, 78 percent more than the 27 committed at this time last year, said Prince George’s County Police Cpl. Stephen Pacheco.

“With homicides, the sheer numbers don’t really tell us much,” said Prince George’s County Police Chief Melvin High in a statement. “There are more at this time than there were in the same period a year ago, but under the numbers there is much more, and each is something we must be concerned about as a community.”

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of these statistics is the lack of surprise from citizens, academics, lawyers and politicians. They also expressed doubt things will get better anytime soon for either location.

“It’s a bleak picture, but it’s reality,” said Margaret Burns, spokeswoman for the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s office.

“There is a cultural problem in this country and this violence has been accepted as the norm,” said Rep. Albert Wynn, D-Mitchellville. “I’m not surprised by the data.”

“These figures are not very surprising,” said Laura Dugan, professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Maryland, College Park.

“Both areas are disproportionately minority,” Dugan said. “It is well established that minorities are more affected by violent crime than non-minorities.”

The higher the concentration of these marginalized people, the greater chance of crime, which is occurring in Baltimore and in growing pockets in Prince George’s, she said.

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