Despite the constant efforts of the Chicago police department and Chicago officials, the Chicago violence rate has climbed to dangerous levels.
Located in the portage between the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes, Chicago is a small city in Illinois, USA, on the shores of Lake Michigan. Every year, the increasing number of violent crimes has made this city notoriously famous for violence and homicides. Since the onset of the 20th century, the Chicago Police Department’s Bureau of Records has reported a steep increase in the rate of Chicago violence consistently.
Despite the constant efforts of the Chicago police department and Chicago officials, the Chicago violence rate has climbed to dangerous levels. Some of the stories associated with these crimes are so terrifying and devastating that you will be led to think, “Is it possible for individuals to be brutal to this level?”
If you want to know the stand of Chicago police officers on this issue and the different stories related to this city, then keep reading. We will discuss this issue thoroughly here.
Overview
A huge rise in violent crime was registered in Chicago in the late era of 1920s and 1960s; that was the beginning of the whole debacle of Chicago violence. And right now, the overall crime rate in Chicago is larger than America’s average violent crime rate. It is known as one of the most violent cities.
A study shows that murders in the city peaked in 1974 with around 29 murders on every 100K people, which grew and became 34 in 1992. And in 2016, it was responsible for almost half of the increase in homicides happening in the US.
In a nutshell, you can understand that the crimes happening in the city have reached such an alarming level that they are sole-handily controlling the rate of crimes, especially violent crimes, happening in the whole US.
Officials took preventive measures to reduce violence and increase public safety. Though after 1992, the city registered a decline in the rate of murders and violence happening in the city. By the mid-2000s, almost a 50% reduction in murders was reported, a great deal for the city and the living situations of its community areas.
But in the 2020s, the city registered yet another upsurge of Chicago violence. The rates that had somewhat dropped over the years started traveling uphill again. Chicago’s homicide rate rose to 28 for every 100k people, and the count was around 774 homicides. And out of all these cases, only 45% were solved, and the culprits were sentenced.
The officials in the police department of Chicago reported that the biggest reason they were unable to solve more cases was because of the “no-snitch” policies prevailing in the streets and community areas. People are too afraid to come forward and give a statement even if they have witnessed the events happening in front of their eyes.
Let’s Take a Look at Some of the Chicago Violence Cases
Every day a new list of criminal cases is registered to the Chicago police department, which consists of several things, including homicides, fatal shootings out of the blue, illegal gun possession, and gang fights. There is no limit to the extent of crime and the people who die as its victim. Some of the Chicago violence cases that you should take a look at are:
1. 8 People Died in The Chicago Weekend Shooting
On August 8, 2022, WTTW news reported that at least 46 people were wounded and 8 killed in the reckless shooting.
The shooting happened at different places by anonymous shooters, most of which were hit-and-run cases. CTA Red Line, 200 block of West 87th street, 400 block of South Clark Street, and 4000 block of West Monroe Street were some of the places where the shooting victims were found dead.
According to the Chicago police department, there has been a decline in the number of shootings and homicides in Chicago violence cases. However, the crime rate in the city is still alarming.
2. Man Brutally Shot to Death on The Red Line of West Chatham
On August 6, 2022, a 29-year-old man was fatally shot to death while riding a train car at about 2:05 a.m.
Chicago Police said the man was casually traveling when a person started firing and was shot in the abdomen and chest. He was rushed to the nearby hospital, where the doctors couldn’t save him.
No one was arrested in this Chicago violence case while the area detectives kept investigating the culprit.
3. A Man in Indiana Pleaded Guilty to Keeping Illegal Guns
Jamel Danzy, a 30-year-old man from Hammond, Indiana, pleaded guilty to buying an illegal Glock pistol. This was the same gun used to kill police officer Ella French while critically wounding her partner.
In Danzy’s plea, he mentioned that the gun was bought illegally for his own purposes, and the same gun was used to kill the French. In his plea, Danzy has also acknowledged that he used to buy guns for convicted felons who were prohibited from purchasing firearms and used to sell it to them.
The felons who committed the crime with the gun were arrested after that, and Danzy was sentenced to serve 10 to 16 months in prison.
4. Teen in Chicago Gets Charged with Robbery and Battery
Tiara Berry, a 19-year-old teenager from Chicago, is facing felony charges for robbery and battery charges. As reported in the WTTW news, Tiara hit an onboard man on CTA Red Line Train, but in addition, she also had a robbery case on her name dated back to March 1.
According to the prosecutors, Tiara was in a group with several other people and boarded the train together from Clybourn Red Line station with an 18-year-old man. As soon as the man took out his phone, someone from Tiara’s group approached him, snatched the phone from his hand, and ran off. And before the man could follow the person who stole his phone, Tiara and her group started throwing punches at him until he fell to the ground.
The man was rushed to the Northwestern hospital, where he got treated for some brutal abrasions. Prosecutors recognized Berry later from the surveillance footage and were arrested the following Tuesday. A cook county judge issued a $20,000 D-bond on Berry the following Wednesday, which meant she had to pay at least 10% of the whole amount to get bailed from the prison.
5. A Man Was Shot for Confronting the Thieves Who Were Stealing His Catalytic Converter
A 54-year-old man of the 7200 block of North Oakley Avenue was shot for confronting the people stealing the catalytic converter of his car.
According to the police, the man saw someone beneath his car in the morning around 6 a.m. and went to confront them, but one of the offenders took out a gun and shot the man twice.
He was then rushed to the hospital, and no arrests were made for this Chicago violence case.
These are the kind of Chicago violence cases that keep coming up every week. Whether it’s homicide, gun violence, murder, battery, or armed robbery, every weekend, some kind of criminal activity happens, and an innocent loses their life as a consequence.
One of the reasons for the violent crimes happening in the city can be attributed to the prevailing gang culture. There are approximately more than 70 gangs in the city with 100K active members. Feuds between the gangs and gang warfare always lead to massive death of innocent people and those included in it.
Chicago police have constantly been trying to keep the gang culture under control. Still, the gangs have been generational and next to impossible to uproot, making it the root cause of Chicago violence since the beginning.
However, the Chicago police department has seen some trends in the victims of these criminal activities. Some groups of people were preyed upon by these criminals more than others. So, let’s see now which kind of people get the worst part of Chicago violence in the city than the others.
Does Demography Also Affects the Victims?
Although the city’s population is evenly distributed among the Latinx, Black, and White people, Chicago violence inordinately affects the people of color.
In the year 2020, it was reported by the Chicago Police Department that among the various crimes happening in the city, the victims of 79% of non-fatal shootings and homicides were Black people and 15% of them were Latinx. White people had the smallest percentage of victimization by Chicago violence, and black people had the largest percentage.
According to the record done by the officers, it was also noted that the victimization rate of males for the non-fatal and fatal shootings was 84% and that for all violent crimes was 56%. And most of the people who were victimized were between the ages of 20 and 29.
The neighborhood a person stays in was also a determining factor in victimization. The African American community areas located on the south side of Chicago lacked education and were dominantly impoverished; these were known as violent neighborhoods and these places saw major levels of violent activities.
For example, Austin on the west side and Englewood on the far south side have a ten times higher rate of homicides than the other parts of the city.
It showed that people of color, certain sex, and ages were getting more affected by the increasing crime incidents in the community areas and streets than the others.
Stand of The Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Chicago Violence
The stance of mayor Lori Lightfoot regarding police and violent crimes in the area had been inconsistent. First, in July 2020, she announced that the city needs to make ‘hard choices due to growing pandemic conditions, and for that reason, they will cut $80 million from the budget of the city police.
This decision was fueled by George Floyd’s murder, a black American, by white police officers on the day of the light. It was a case of homicide by the Chicago officials based on suspicions that proved all wrong after Floyd’s death, and the natives didn’t take the situation gently.
Lightfoot announced that funds from the cops would be cut short because of that situation. And after only a few days of the defund policy, she requested the federal prosecutors to reinforce and strengthen the ranks of cops in the city. Still, that decision backfired as the city registered a substantial increase in the rate of criminal activities again.
In her speech, she clarified that the surge in homicides and shooting victims had reached an alarming rate and bolstering cops is the only way to deal with it. During the speech, she also implied that she had never supported the movement to ‘defund the police.’
Mayor Lori Lightfoot had to take a series of dramatic steps to restore the law and public safety in the city again. She asked for the deployment of more ATF agents as well as federal prosecutors to handle the new cases that were coming every day.
Owing to the rising Chicago violence, Mayor Lori Lightfoot initiated a program in which she asked for multiple government agencies to focus on the most violent community areas of Chicago.
And this method has also worked in the city. In the last years, there has been a 30% decline in murders and shootings on the city’s West side. Also, the number of murders and shootings has reduced by 18% in the whole city.
The mayor is also very sure that the approach she has invested in the city is holistic and will continue to help reduce the local violent activities.
So, this is all about the Chicago violence and the measures taken to save the city. The city saw a major rise in 2020, but after a lot of efforts from the officials, the rates are declining again.
Last Updated on by Pragya Chakrapani