CRIME DOWN STATEWIDE, REPORT SAYS.

Byline: David R. Baker Daily News Staff Writer

Led by a record drop in the number of killings statewide, crime across California plunged during the first half of 1998, according to a state report released Tuesday.

The report showed declines for every kind of violent crime, with the number of homicides down 22.2 percent from the same time last year. That represents the biggest one-year decline ever recorded in California, said Attorney General Dan Lungren.

Crime levels are now lower than at any time since the 1960s, he added.

``If these figures pan out for the rest of the year, we'll have a 53 percent drop in homicides,'' Lungren said during a meeting with Daily News editors and reporters. ``I don't know any other state that can say that.''

The figures, he said, show the success of such crime-fighting measures as the ``three strikes, you're out'' law, which mandates 25-years-to-life prison terms for violent criminals convicted of their third felony offense. With about 36,000 people jailed by the ``three strikes'' law, Lungren said crime rates have dropped because more criminals are off the street.

``A lot of them are now doing time,'' he said.

Criminologists, however, said the reduction in crime might have more to do with California's robust economy than with any specific law.

``Full employment is the major factor,'' said Daniel Glaser, professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Southern California. Over the decades, crime rates tend to follow the peaks and valleys of the economy more than any other indicator, he said.

Los Angeles mirrored most of those statewide declines, with homicides down 29.3 percent and robbery falling 24.6 percent.

Statewide, the number of aggravated assaults dropped 17.5 percent, and the number of rapes fell 5.6 percent. However, the state report showed an increase in the number of rapes within Los Angeles.

More recent statistics from the Los Angeles Police Department show that trend reversing itself. By Sept. 5, city police recorded 2.9 percent fewer rapes citywide than during the same period last year, said Deputy Chief Gregory Berg.

The state report did not include crime rates for the San Fernando Valley, but the latest LAPD statistics, which cover two more months than the state report, show similar declines in most crimes in the Valley. However, the number of homicides in the Valley actually rose slightly, from 49 in 1997 to 51 in 1998. The number of rapes also inched upward, from 271 in 1997 to 275 this year.

Although the cause of the statewide decline in crime might be open to debate, Lungren cheered its results. Had crime remained at 1993 levels, he said, 1.2 million more state residents would have been victimized.

``As a result of the record crime drop during the last five years, more than 6,000 Californians were not murdered . . . and more than 8,500 women and children were not the victims of rape,'' he said in a written statement.