New York - The crime rate in New York has continued its downward pattern of the last few years, with the city's murder rate falling by 31 per cent during the first quarter of 1998, city officials said yesterday. There were 138 murders in the city in the period, 63 fewer than during the same months last year.
Between 1993 and 1997, crime fell by 43 per cent, with the murder rate falling by 60 per cent. If that downward trend holds, 1998 could see fewer than 500 murders in the city, the smallest number since 1961.