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The Truth Behind Chicago’s Violence

  

Category:  News & Politics

Via:  johnrussell  •  6 years ago  •  12 comments

The Truth Behind Chicago’s Violence

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T




http://www.nationalmemo.com/the-truth-behind-chicagos-violence/

But don’t believe the hype. There are not, in fact, more murders in Chicago than ever before. The number of homicides peaked at 920 in 1991. The death toll last year was 674 — and that was down 15 percent from 2016. This year, even with the latest frenzy of shootings, the number of homicides is 25 percent lower than it was at this point in 2017.

These are real signs of progress, however tardy and insufficient. If this year’s trajectory holds, it would mean some 280 fewer people dying violently this year than just two years ago. Another year on this trend line would put the city about where it was in 2013 — when the number of homicides hit the lowest level in 48 years.

Contrary to popular myth, cynically promoted by Trump and other outside critics, Chicago is not an exceptionally dangerous city. In terms of violent crime, it is less afflicted than a number of large cities , including St. Louis, Baltimore and New Orleans.

The bloodletting in Chicago last weekend, with 74 people shot, 12 fatally, was enough to horrify even locals, who are relatively inured to chronic slaughter at the hands of gun-wielding felons. “Unbelievable,” said state Rep. La Shawn Ford, a black Chicago Democrat who went so far as to call on President Donald Trump for help.

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The shock was also evident beyond Chicago. Rudy Giuliani blamed Democrats in general and Mayor Rahm Emanuel in particular. The mayor’s legacy, he tweeted, is “more murders in his city than ever before.” Everywhere, there was agreement that the city’s mayhem is out of control and in urgent need of measures to contain it.


But don’t believe the hype. There are not, in fact, more murders in Chicago than ever before. The number of homicides peaked at 920 in 1991. The death toll last year was 674 — and that was down 15 percent from 2016. This year, even with the latest frenzy of shootings, the number of homicides is 25 percent lower than it was at this point in 2017.

These are real signs of progress, however tardy and insufficient. If this year’s trajectory holds, it would mean some 280 fewer people dying violently this year than just two years ago. Another year on this trend line would put the city about where it was in 2013 — when the number of homicides hit the lowest level in 48 years.

Contrary to popular myth, cynically promoted by Trump and other outside critics, Chicago is not an exceptionally dangerous city. In terms of violent crime, it is less afflicted than a number of large cities, including St. Louis, Baltimore and New Orleans.


Republicans blame unbroken Democratic control of Chicago for its mayhem. But partisan coloration is an unreliable indicator of crime patterns. Of the 10 states with the highest rates of violence, seven voted for Trump. Los Angeles, whose homicide rate is enviably low, has had only Democratic mayors since 2001.

It’s easy to blame the mayor for the persistent bloodshed — and former police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, who is running against Emanuel in the February election, does not pass up the opportunity. McCarthy headed the Chicago Police Department from 2011 to 2015, and he claims credit for the improvement that occurred in that period.

But he was also in charge of Chicago police when an officer shot and killed 17-year-old Laquan McDonald — a gross overreaction that police labored to cover up. The spike in murders began just after the release of dashcam video showing the victim walking away from police before being riddled with bullets. The revelation, which contradicted official accounts, sparked public outrage, particularly among African-Americans.

One problem in Chicago is the dismally low number of homicides that police are able to solve — about 1 in 6. But the department’s poor reputation among many of the people most at risk discourages the sort of cooperation from citizens that cops need to catch the killers.

The city’s record of failing to discipline officers who resort to unjustified lethal force is corrosive. Last year, WBEZ reported that since 2007, the city’s Independent Police Review Authority had “investigated police shootings that have killed at least 130 people and injured 285 others” — and “found officers at fault in just two of those cases, both off-duty” incidents.


The Chicago Reporter provided additional evidence. “From 2012 to 2015, the city spent more than $263 million on settlements, judgments and outside legal counsel for police misconduct,” it found. If police want more help from the communities they serve, this is not the way to get it.

Despite these failures, the decline in homicides suggests that the city and the department are doing something right. But what that might be is hard to determine with any confidence.

The fight against crime can’t be restricted to more or better policing. Chicago’s crime problem is concentrated in a small number of poor, blighted, mostly African-American neighborhoods. Those areas owe their plight largely to a sordid history of systemic, deliberate racial discrimination and violence, endemic poverty, and official neglect over decades.

The conditions that breed rampant crime in parts of Chicago came about not by accident but by policy. The recent attention shows that people here and elsewhere care about the violence. Do they care about fixing the causes?


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JohnRussell
Professor Principal
1  seeder  JohnRussell    6 years ago
The fight against crime can’t be restricted to more or better policing. Chicago’s crime problem is concentrated in a small number of poor, blighted, mostly African-American neighborhoods. Those areas owe their plight largely to a sordid history of systemic, deliberate racial discrimination and violence, endemic poverty, and official neglect over decades.
 
 
 
96WS6
Junior Quiet
1.1  96WS6  replied to  JohnRussell @1    6 years ago

That's the fact.  Maybe instead of more gun restrictions they should focus on helping these folks find jobs and give them a hand up for a change and provide more police protection in these areas.  Isn't that what the protests on the mayor were about?   Oh sorry, I forgot....  That might actually work and wake up the constituent base.

 
 
 
Dean Moriarty
Professor Quiet
1.2  Dean Moriarty  replied to  JohnRussell @1    6 years ago

Wrong those areas are crapholes because that is what the people living there have created and the culture of violence they embrace. There failure rests on their own shoulders and no one other than themselves.

 
 
 
Thrawn 31
Professor Guide
1.2.1  Thrawn 31  replied to  Dean Moriarty @1.2    6 years ago

Yeah, because policies, official and unofficial, have zero impact on communities whatsoever.

I guess the Meth Dens that make up the rust belt are purely the result of the culture of drug use and abuse those people embraced and created for themselves. Glad I can just finally say fuck the rust belt, they did it to themselves. 

 
 
 
Dean Moriarty
Professor Quiet
1.2.2  Dean Moriarty  replied to  Thrawn 31 @1.2.1    6 years ago

Exactly nobody other than the methhead is responsible for their problem. 

 
 
 
Thrawn 31
Professor Guide
1.2.3  Thrawn 31  replied to  Dean Moriarty @1.2.2    6 years ago

Good, fuck the heartland. 

 
 
 
Sean Treacy
Professor Principal
3  Sean Treacy    6 years ago

It’s up to the afflicted communities to stop the carnage.  As long as the protect the killers, it will continue, no matter how many Parades to,stop the violence  they have.

 
 
 
Silent_Hysteria
Freshman Silent
5  Silent_Hysteria    6 years ago

People claim that the republicans, white supremacists, and cops are killing AA....  

why would they need to do anything if they really wanted to see black people killed?  They do a far better job of it than any of the above groups.  Hell if a cop really wanted to see black people killed all he would need to do is slow play responses and let the murderers get away knowing they would kill more on the street.  Between many democrats making martyrs out of gang bangers and planned parenthood killing more black babies than anyone ... that keeps the black population in check pretty well.  Soon they won't even be a concern of the DNC agenda since they saw the greater benefit of getting the growing Hispanic vote imo

 
 

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