A low murder rate is by no means the only measure of a good society. But it’s a pretty good measure of a society’s underlying stability.

© Christopher Capozziello for The New York Times

The judge who sentenced Randy Rodriguez Santos said his case exemplified the “coming together of three horrible symptoms of this city: homelessness, mental illness and narcotics abuse.”

© Pool photo by Rashid Umar Abbasi

Dmitriy Popov was 17 when he stabbed O’Shae Sibley, a 28-year-old dancer, at a gas station. Mr. Popov has been charged with murder as a hate crime.

© David Dee Delgado for The New York Times