E-Mail This Article to a Friend CRIME Teen homicides return to the Hub BY DAVID S. BERNSTEIN

The number of homicides in Boston dropped sharply last year, from 60 to 39 (through December 28). But a disturbing figure should forestall any celebration: six teenage minors were killed, more than in the previous four years combined. These teenage victims account for 15 percent of all homicides in the city last year, starting with the very first murder of the year.

Not only are the victims young, but in many cases so are the suspects. "Homicide as a response to a bad situation seems to be a theme that’s not losing its steam," says Suffolk County sheriff Andrea Cabral. "Weapons are a first response, and youth have a limited concept of consequences."

Only four 13-to-16-year-olds were murdered in Boston from 1999 through 2002, according to Boston Police Department statistics, out of more than 200 homicides in the city. Only one of the 60 homicide victims in 2002 was in that age range: 13-year-old Katherine Herpin.

As a partial explanation of 2003’s disturbing uptick in teen homicide, Cabral suggests that the city’s celebrated community policing, which dramatically lowered teen violence, may have been a victim of its own success. "That Boston Miracle really was one, because everybody was on the same page for an extended time, and there was a lot more money in budgets for programs," she says. When the situation improved, she suggests, limited resources and attention turned elsewhere, and the problem inevitably returned.

"We got comfortable and complacent," agrees Blue Telusma, a curriculum developer for the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute in Boston. "Things were going so well that we’ve started to slack off — and when we slack off, it starts to show up in the statistics."

Telusma suggests that the increase in teen killings indicates a need to reach out to kids in middle schools. Cabral agrees, and points to the new pilot middle school in Grove Hall, which offers courses in conflict resolution and handling frustration.

The teens who died:

• Michael McQuay, 14, was shot once in the head on Geneva Avenue, in Dorchester, on the evening of January 22. No arrest has been made.

• Livey Bennett, 16, was shot twice in the chest on Putnam Street, in Roxbury, after a church dance late on February 21. Another 16-year-old, Arthur Rashaad Miles, was charged with the murder in October.

• Steven Jackson, 15, was shot in the head and chest on the afternoon of April 23 on Schuyler Street, in Roxbury. Kevin Johnson, 18, was indicted in July for the murder.

• Eon Hoskins, 14, was stabbed in the abdomen on the night of June 26, in an alley near Washington Street, in Dorchester. Carey Reid, 16, was arrested in July for the murder. Hoskins and nine others allegedly chased Reid into the alley prior to the stabbing.

• Tony On, 15, was shot in the abdomen on Carson Beach, in South Boston, on July 4. State Police obtained an arrest warrant for Henry Tran, 26, but have not detained him.

• Germaine Rucker, 15, was shot in the head and back on Wendover Street, in Dorchester, on August 10. An unnamed juvenile was later arrested.

In addition to these homicides, at least a half-dozen 14-to-16-year-olds suffered nonfatal gunshots in the city last year, and several others were stabbed.

"My sense overall is that if a kid wants to get a gun, he can get one on the black market in Boston," says Cabral. "There hasn’t been a lot to stem that tide.

Also of note is the number of homicides that took place outside of the traditional "high-crime" areas of Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan. During the previous three years, 70 percent of the city’s murders occurred in those neighborhoods. Homicides in those areas declined dramatically — from 40 in 2002 and 39 in 2001 to just 21 last year. But homicides elsewhere in the city actually rose, from 13 to 18. That included three in Roslindale, and at least one in almost every neighborhood.