No Letup in Crimes Against Black Youths : Study: Males under 25 are increasingly at risk, Justice Department statistics show. Violent acts occurred 1 1/2 times more than the rate for whites.

Young black men under age 25 continue to be victimized by violent crime more than other racial or age groupings, the Justice Department said in a report issued Thursday.

Studies long have shown that black male youths often are the targets of violence. But the latest statistics show the trend has not lessened, and in fact has intensified for blacks ages 16 to 24. The easy availability of guns was cited as a factor.

The department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that among people ages 16 to 24 in 1992--the last year for which complete figures were available--the rate of violent crime sustained by black men was more than 1 1/2 times the rate for white men.

Black males ages 12 to 24 were almost 14 times as likely to be homicide victims as were members of the general population. For black men over 24, the rate was eight times that for the general population, the report says.

Further highlighting the disproportionate nature of violence against young blacks, statisticians Lisa Bastian and Bruce Taylor said in their survey:

“While black males between the ages 16 and 24 comprised only about 1% of the population age 12 or over, they experienced 5% of all violent victimizations. White males 16 to 24 made up about 6% of the population and were victims in 17% of violent crimes.”

Tracing an upward trend over the last five years, the study showed that rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults comprised 60% of all violence against black males ages 12 to 24 in 1987, and had risen to 65% by 1992. The proportion of the same crimes against white men in the identical age group remained stable at about 45%, according to the study.

Taylor, who co-authored the study, said that “black youth were more likely than white youth to be victims in crimes involving weapons.” But he said nothing in his data explained why this trend had occurred.

However, another Justice Department official who requested anonymity said: “You’ve got to believe the wide availability of guns is a factor. Drug crimes are on the increase, and young blacks involved in that business can earn enough to buy guns on the black market, which they use to protect their territory and for other purposes.”

A separate report on capital punishment issued Thursday by the Bureau of Justice Statistics also showed statistical imbalances by race. Of 37 prisoners executed by states in 1993, 13 were black and 17 were white, despite the fact that blacks comprise only 12% to 14% of the nation’s population.

Of the remainder, six were Latino and one was Native American.

The number of people executed was six more than in 1992 and was the largest annual number since the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of revised state capital punishment laws in 1976. Of 10 states where executions occurred, Texas had the largest number with 16, and Virginia was next with five. California had one execution.

The prisoners put to death in 1993 had lived on Death Row an average of nine years and five months, about one month less than the average for inmates executed the previous year.