Clinton aims to halve murder rate in US cities

Philadelphia: Democratic White House hopeful Hillary Clinton was to unveil a plan on Friday to boost federal spending to help cities and states fight crime by $4 billion (Dh14.6 billion) a year, aiming to halve murder rates in the most dangerous US cities.

The New York senator will announce the plan in Philadelphia, a city with the highest homicide rate among the 10 biggest US cities and a key battleground in her flagging race against Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Clinton is ahead in Pennsylvania polls before the state's April 22 primary but needs to maintain a strong lead to stay in the race to be the Democratic nominee in the November vote.

The centrepiece of the plan is to set a goal of halving homicide rates in cities. It includes adding 100,000 new police recruits, targeting gang violence and disrupting drug markets, and a federal initiative to crack down on illegal gun trafficking.

Police recruitment

According to FBI and other figures cited by the Clinton campaign, from 1994 through 2000, violent crime fell 29 per cent and the murder rate fell 39 per cent. From 2000 to 2006, violent crime fell only 6 per cent and the murder rate rose 9 per cent.

Clinton's plan foresees reinvigorating a 1990s police recruiting programme known as "COPS" and would invest $1 billion a year to "close the revolving door" of prison inmates reverting to crime on release and going back behind bars.

The plan cites a recent Pew Centre study that found more than one in 100 American adults are now behind bars. Clinton advisers say roughly half of all offenders behind bars will end up back in prison within three years, showing the urgent need for better rehabilitation programs. The advisers say the plan will focus on partnerships to raise federal government involvement on fighting crime.