Shooting victims often are violators

Clayton, the program's coordinator, said that homicides have decreased from 32 to 62 percent in the three districts where the program has functioned longest, partly explaining why some districts are no longer among the city's worst for violence.

She said the city wanted to expand its efforts to other police districts, but it costs about $1.6 million to add a new area, "and we do not have additional funding."

Other aspects of the probation department's report support commonly known facts about the city's crime trends: That young black men are more likely to commit homicides - as well as to be killed - than any other group.

Among the report's findings:

Contrary to assumptions that many people are shot more than once, of the 8,058 people shot from 2002 to 2006, only 4 percent were shot on more than one occasion. Three people were shot on four occasions. Two survived.

A quarter of all shooting victims were shot in the leg or legs. Only 1 percent died.

Twelve percent of shooting victims were shot in the head, 64 percent of them fatally. A quarter of them were suicides.

For more on Philadelphia's rising homicide rate, visit