However, crime reports show Cambridge is not as safe as Boston's other more affluent Suburbs, like Newton or Wellesley.

Last year, Newton, with a population of 82,500 residents, had only 21 violent crimes reported per 1,000 residents. While Cambridge, with a population of 96,000 residents, had 124 violent crimes reported per 1,000 residents.

According to Nagle, violent crime is an unfortunate--and inescapable--truth for American cities in the 1990s, and despite the presence of two world-famous institutions of higher learning, Cambridge is no exception.

"This is a city. We have city-related crimes. Not as many as most, thank God, but we will have city-related crime," Nagle says.

Violent Crime

Violent crime levels have been relatively constant in Cambridge over the last 20 years, averaging 860 violent crimes a year. Violent crime, as defined by the UCR, includes murder, rape, robbery and assault.

Atkins has practiced criminal law in Cambridge for 32 years and can remember the days when Cambridge was a little less violent.

"When we were kids growing up in Cambridge, we didn't lock our doors," Atkins says. "Violent crimes were rare. Now violent crimes are the norm."

Violence especially by young people is becoming all too common in the city, local observers say.

Just two days ago, a 19-year-old man was shot three times outside the CambridgeSide Galleria shopping mall. Cambridge police are looking for three Hispanic males who ran towards Kendall Square after the shooting Wednesday night.

The man was shot three times, according to published reports.

Atkins says that another form of violent crime which seems to be on the rise in Cambridge is domestic violence. Last year, Atkins handled twice as many assault cases as he usually does in a year, a majority of which were domestic assaults.

"It's like an epidemic," he says.

Atkins' experience is supported by citywide statistics: Domestic assaults are the most common type of assault in Cambridge.

After last year's much-ballyhooed O.J. Simpson case, the issue of domestic violence has attracted national attention.