Wirepoints updated this piece on 7/5 to correct Houston’s source date and change the first graphic to reflect data of cities with the most homicides.
By: Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner
If you’re looking for some good news about Chicago crime, here’s some.
Murders this year through June 25 are down 7 percent compared to the same period in 2022. Chicago’s Police Compstat has reported 287 murders so far this year, while the comparable number last year was 310.
Twenty-three fewer deaths is good news, especially given that many of the murdered increasingly tend to be innocent bystanders, some of them kids. Homicides of Chicago youths aged 19 and younger are up by 8 this year: 53 vs. 45.
But as is often the case, there’s bad news with the good.
To start with, a look at the five cities with the nation’s most homicides shows that Chicago’s year-to-date murder drop is the smallest, at just 7 percent.
New York City’s drop, down 8 percent, is a little better than Chicago’s. But Los Angeles’ murders are down 24 percent and so are Houston and Philadelphia’s.
Rather than Chicago’s drop being attributable to anything Mayors Lightfoot or Johnson have done or did this year, it may be just a trend in the biggest cities as we get further and further away from the mayhem of covid and the violence post George Floyd.
Also bad is that Chicago’s murders – the actual number – still dwarf those of the other cities. Chicago’s 287 murders in 2023 is 94 more than its nearest big city peer. If current trends continue, Chicago will lead the nation in the total number of homicides for the 12th year in a row.
And on a per capita basis, Chicago’s murders still far outpace the nation’s two biggest cities, New York and Los Angeles. At 10.6 murders per 100,000 people, Chicago’s homicide rate is three times higher than LA’s (3.6 per 100,000) and nearly five times higher than NYC’s (2.3 per 100,000).
Nor is Chicago’s situation any better when looking at reported major crimes as a whole. Total crime in Chicago is still up 40 percent this year over the same period in 2022.
Murders may be down 7 percent, but Sexual Assaults are up 2 percent, Robbery is up 14 percent and Motor Vehicle Thefts continue, up 133 percent. (We’ll do a summary update on the first two months of Brandon Johnson’s tenure when the mid-July numbers are released).
And if you’re still wondering how Chicago’s doing in murders compared to 2019, before the recent craziness hit, murders in 2023 are still 20 percent higher than in the comparable 2019 period: 287 vs. 240.
The Windy City has a ways to go to return to the homicide levels seen in 2019. And even then, getting back to 2019 levels isn’t an admirable goal. Chicago still led the nation in total murders back then.
The real, ambitious goal is to get to New York City’s full-year homicide rate of about 5.2 per 100,000 – meaning bringing Chicago murders down to about 140 from last year’s 697. And that means a whole lot more deterrence than what’s going on today.
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If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
The number of aggravated batteries are up for 2023. What this tells me is Chicago hospitals have been doing a great job treating the wounded. If it were not for this hospital excellence there would be a lot more deaths.
As crazy as it sounds, death rates are actually higher today than in the 90’s. More people were shot and fewer died in the 90’s; while fewer people are shot today but more of them die. Here’s a Trib story from 1995 (a ‘crime is down year’) showing that there were 387 murders between January – June 1995 and a mind boggling 2,179 aggravated battery with a firearm aka shootings during that six month period, which is a .177 ratio. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1995-07-05-9507050219-story.html According to the July 1, 2023 HeyJacka$$ twitter post, there were 316 killed, 1168 wounded in the same January… Read more »
I’m not going back to Chicago till things get better. No more murders. Pointing a gun, pulling the trigger and killing, call it anything you want, I call it murder. No more kid killings or trafficking. No more robberies. No more outrageous prices for everything from a coke to a parking spot. No more homeless on streets. No more uneducated graduates.
Yeah, of course I know I am NEVER GOING BACK.
If you use a gun, rifle or pistol in the commission of a crime and are found guilty
A minimum of 25 years in prison, No parole,
Period. Watch how fast the shootings stop.
These idiots will not stop no matter how many new gun laws are passed.
Auntie Kim would never stand for that and I’m sure her elected replacement will be more of the same.
Then why do I not feel safe in the Chitty?
CHIRAQ UPDATE: 76 People Shot, 13 Of Them Killed, In Chicago Over Extended July 4th Holiday Weekend – Hey Jackass
Wirepoints makes the mistake of looking at CPD’s numbers. We all know that CPD’s numbers are cooked, and have been for years. Even the woke publication Chicago Magazine ran a multi-part article several years ago detailing the way the homicide numbers were manipulated.
The true numbers are found at heyjackass.com. As of right now, we’re at 325 homicides in Chicago, not the 287 CPD reports. There is no good news in Chicago.
As an Illinois (and Chicago) taxpayer, you are supporting a government that is racist towards white people, favors woke ideology over religious freedom, often fails to protect and/or educate its children, and buys power/votes thru public union support. My questions to you are, “How do you justify living there? Are you all non-white atheists that don’t care about your kids?”
Here’s another question for the Chicago/Illinois taxpayer. What’s the point of giving a portion of your money to the local church when you also give a similar portion to the local/state government that opposes most of what Christianity represents.
So, paying your taxes ought to voluntary? I think we all know how that would work–not well is an understatement!
Seems like you missed the point, and/or I wasn’t clear enough.
Yes they are. Just move out of state. And yes, the result will be bad for pensioners
and truly numerous others!
More social workers and taxpayer funded free stuff.
That’ll fix everything…..