CAMBRIDGE POLICE DEPARTMENT

1996 ANNUAL REPORT

MURDER

Murder and Non-negligent Manslaughter, as defined in the Uniform Crime Reporting Program, is the willful (non-negligent) killing of one human being by another. The classification of this offense, as for all other Crime Index Offenses, is based solely on police investigation as opposed to the determination of a court, medical examiner, coroner, jury, or other judicial body. Not included in the count for this offense classification are deaths caused by negligence, suicide, or accident; justifiable homicides; and attempts to murder or assaults to murder, which are scored as aggravated assaults.

The single murder recorded in Cambridge in 1996 occurred in Mid-Cambridge on November 22. The victim, a 50-year-old homeless man from Boston, apparently engaged in a verbal argument with another man on the sidewalk in front of a commercial building at 1033 Massachusetts Avenue. The argument escalated into a fight, in which the suspect stabbed the victim in the chest and slashed his throat. The suspect fled, and the victim was rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital where, after over a week in intensive care, he succumbed. The case is still under investigation; the suspect has not been identified.

For the 30-year period between 1960 and 1989, the City of Cambridge averaged four and a half murders per year. The annual average for the 1990s has fallen to two and a half per year. Nationally, cities of 100,000 residents average 10 murders each year. Trend analysis over the past few years points to three recurring murder scenarios in Cambridge: domestic murder, in which an elderly female is brutally murdered by her husband in a homicidal rage; arguments among the homeless that, often fueled by drugs and alcohol, escalate into deadly violence; and the murder of young males by a handgun or knife in street robberies or drug deals gone awry.

Since 1990, there have been 17 murders in the city of Cambridge. Of these 17 homicides, nine of the victims were male and eight were female. The average age of the male victim has been 23; 47 for the females. A handgun was the murder weapon in four of the incidents, a knife was used in eight of the other 13 homicides. Seven of the 17 murders since 1990 are still under investigation.

Back to the 1996 Annual Report Index

Back to the CPD Home Page