NJ: Newark Sees Its First Murder-Free Month In 44 Years

For the first time in 44 years, nobody got murdered in Newark for an entire month.

The last homicide occurred 32 days ago, besting a 1966 record, says Police Director Garry McCarthy, who is now eyeing a 50-year record of 43 murder-free days. While many factors are involved, the statistics reflect an aggressive effort by Mayor Cory Booker to lower the crime rate. Booker applauded the murder-free month on his Facebook page. The Star-Ledger also notes that that murder rate for the quarter is the second best since 1941 and says major crime rates for shootings, aggravated assaults, robberies and carjacking are also down for the first quarter compared to 2009.

Meanwhile NYC is seeing a reversal in a decades-old decline in homicides. The 2010 murder rate is presently 20% higher than last year.