(AP) - A new study says the number of younger blackmales involved in shooting deaths has gone up dramatically since2000, even as the FBI says the murder rate nationwide is levelingoff. Last year, for example, the study from criminologists atNortheastern University says 426 black males between the ages of 14and 17 were killed in gun crimes. That's a 40 percent increase from2000. An estimated 964 in the same age group committed fatal shootingsin 2007 -- a 38 percent increase from seven years earlier. The number of young white men who committed gun-relatedhomicides also rose between 2000 and 2007 -- but not asdramatically. The study puts some blame on the Bush administration for cuttinggrants to local police and juvenile crime prevention programs. Incoming Vice President Joe Biden has promised funding to put50,000 new police officers on the street.