Pa. 2nd in blacks slain

Pennsylvania dropped from first to second place in 2005 in the number of African-American citizens murdered - many of them young and most killed with guns, according to a study of the latest data available, the Violence Policy Center announced yesterday.

Missouri knocked us out of the No. 1 spot - but only by a little more than one-half percent.

According to an analysis of FBI data by the Violence Policy Center, Missouri recorded 32.79 African-American homicide victims per 100,000 in 2005.

Pennsylvania's rate was 32.14 per 100,000 - still six times the national average - said the Violence Policy Center, a Washington-based nonprofit organization that works to reduce death and injury from firearms.

Of 439 slayings of black Pennsylvanians in 2005, 364, or 83 percent, of the crimes were committed with guns, the center said.

In 2004 - the first study to rank states based on the rate of black homicide victims - Pennsylvania recorded 398 victims, according to the center.

"The devastation homicide inflicts on black teens and adults is a national crisis, yet it is all too often ignored outside of affected communities," said Josh Sugarmann, founder and executive director of the Violence Policy Center.

"Successful efforts to reduce America's black homicide victimization toll must put a focus on reducing access to firearms," Sugarmann said.

Other observers, such as former police commissioner Sylvester Johnson, also blame other issues troubling the African-American community, including the high school dropout rate, joblessness and imprisonment.

The breakdown by city wasn't available in the data studied by the violence center, but Philadelphia police statistics showed that, of 380 people murdered in Philadelphia in 2005, 315 of them were African-American and 345 were male.

Of the 380 victims, the largest number ranged from 18- to 24-year-olds - 125 killed, 107 of them African-American and 114 of them male.

Among their killers, 275 were arrested in 2005 - 235 of them African-American and 254 male.

As with the victims, the largest number of offenders, 151, were in the 18-to-24 age range, and of that number, 133 were African-American and 140 male.

Equally troubling, 34 murder victims in 2005 were age 17 or younger - 28 of them black and all male.

Among their accused killers, 24 were male, and 21 of them African- American.

Violent crime dropped in Philadelphia and nationwide in 2007, according to both police and FBI statistics released recently, and the number of people murdered last year in the city was 392, 14 fewer than in 2006.

"While most murders - regardless of race - are intraracial, intragender, and involve guns, African-Americans are disproportionately affected by homicide," Sugarmann said.

"Handguns are the driving factor behind Philadelphia's high homicide rates."

Daily News Staff writer Christine Olley contributed to this report.