By: Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner
Mayor-Elect Brandon Johnson’s primary focus on crime is on “root causes,” with little-to-no emphasis on containing today’s out-of-control violence. It’s a strategy doomed to fail. Tackling root causes is important, but they take a long time to address – if they can even be agreed to.
What Chicago requires immediately is deterrence. Stop the bleed. Fast. In Chicago’s case, that means a dramatic increase in policing, arrests, prosecutions and sentencing. If not, the patient dies and root causes don’t matter.
Johnson’s misplaced priorities reminded me of a Letter to the Editor in the Chicago Tribune I saw nearly two years ago. The Tribune reader wrote: “If you don’t first contain the problem of violence, you can’t hope to fix the root causes.”
She went on: “root cause analysis…is part of the 8D problem-solving method. As the name implies, the method consists of eight steps. Root cause analysis is step four. However, step three must be completed first. Step three is: Contain the problem.”
The Tribune letter was directed at Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who ignored that advice. She never tamped down on violence. Crimes climbed 41% in 2022 vs. 2021 and they’ve already jumped another 46% this year compared to the same period in 2022.
Don’t count on Johnson to tamp down either, considering everything he’s said and done so far.
In his own words, Johnson is for defunding the police and supportive of burning and looting. He also backs Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s unwillingness to prosecute criminals and Judge Tim Evans’ decarcerationist agenda.
Since Johnson won’t deter crime immediately, count on the following:
1. Crime will continue to pay.
Criminals in Chicago are justified in thinking crime pays considering the low chance they have in being caught. Chicago’s arrest rate for the city’s seven major crimes fell to just 5% in 2022, half what it was in 2019.
Of the 68,443 reported major crimes in 2022, there were just 3,228 arrests.
2. Large number of Chicagoans will continue to be victimized.
Chicago’s reported major crimes jumped an additional 19,400 in 2022, to nearly 67,000. That was an increase of 41 percent versus the previous year.
The city’s explosion in car thefts – up 102% over 2021 – accounted for a third of that total. Violent crime – aggravated battery, robbery, sexual assault and murder – and its 27,000 victims made up another 25%.
3. 911 responses will continue to be delayed.
The growth in crime and the city’s loss of police officers has combined to turn the city’s emergency response time into a crapshoot.
In 2021, there were 406,829 incidents of high-priority emergency service calls for which there were no police available to respond. That was 52 percent of the 788,000 high-priority 911 service calls dispatched that year.
Those delayed responses included tens of thousands of serious incidents, including 14,955 assaults in progress, 17,828 batteries in progress and over 1,350 people shot.
4. Minorities will continue to suffer most.
Chicago’s hundreds of homicides hit the black and Hispanic communities hardest every year. Blacks and Hispanics comprised 95% of the more than 3,500 murder victims in Chicago between 2018 and 2022.
5. Cops will continue to leave
The ongoing personnel crisis within Chicago law enforcement is only making the crime problem worse. The number of beat cops in the city has fallen by nearly 1,400 officers since Lori Lightfoot took office. The overall sworn police officer count is down by more than 1,600.
City policies, such as banning foot and car chases, have restricted the CPD’s ability to police effectively. And the city leadership’s lack of support and their embrace of a revolving door for criminals has damaged officer morale.
6. More and more dangerous felons will be released.
Bail reform in Cook County under Chief Judge Timothy Evans has resulted in more defendants on electronic monitoring charged with major violent crimes. Today, there are 850 more violent defendants out on ankle bracelets – many of them felons – than there were in 2016 before Evans’ changes took place.
7. Chicago will continue to lead the nation in homicides.
The city has led the nation in homicides for 11 years in a row. Last year, Chicago suffered 697 homicides compared to big city peers New York, 438 deaths and Los Angeles, 382.
With 117 deaths so far in 2023, Chicago is well on its way to leading the nation 12 years in a row.
Chicago’s murder rate of 25.8 per 100K people last year was 5 times higher than New York City’s and 2.5 times higher than Los Angeles’.
Read more from Wirepoints:
- Chicago’s pursuit of ‘criminal justice reform’ an utter failure: Windy City homicides top nation for 11th year in a row with crime still rising.
- More cops on Chicago’s streets won’t help until criminals are prosecuted and sentenced
- It will take exceptional political courage to end Chicago’s ‘crisis of values.’ Good luck.
- Unwed births, illiterate children and black-on-black crime: What Chicago’s mayoral candidates ignore
- Chicago’s progressive agenda has been destructive for black communities
- Obama was right: “Too many fathers are missing”
Audio and summary 
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.
Deterrence is the last think that Johnson is interested in . It would require acceptance of personal responsibility, as in the criminals responsible being held to account. With Johnson at the helm and Kim Foxx the states prosecutor, nothing will change. You will just hear more blather about disproportionate punishment.
Lightfoot and Preckwinkle have both opined that North Side should experience same crime-levels as South Side and West Side gangbanger territories. Rather than address substantial increases in criminal behavior, they want to “equitably distribute” that crime to all areas of Chicago. That’s “equity” in action, per definition. Don’t expect ANY additional policing, nor prosecution, of folks committing crimes. It’s new normal to expect violent crime, to expect property crime, to expect passive acceptance of crime-events as conditions of urban life in all parts of Chicago. It’s also far far easier to simple promote “acceptance” rather than “enforcement of law” as… Read more »
The root cause is not fixable. Some humans will never behave themselves in society. Even a person as stupid as Brandon knows this, but he isn’t really interested in addressing the “root cause”. He’s interested in power and control. Seriously, don’t you think that if the problem was fixable, it would have been fixed by now. It’s not like humans just walked out of caves a few years ago. But suddenly Brandon has the answer! We have to fix the root cause! I just hope he reaps what he sows when violence continues to escalate.
Pretty much agree, but the root cause is fixable. It’s just that it will take a couple generations to correct a problem that was a couple generations in the making.
Identifying rootbcauseviscagood side hustle. Look what’s is don’t forvKamsla. anyone asks, just say we’re identifying critical path and paradigm shifts. You can be thoughtful for a lifetime of drivel.
The root cause is social problems. Looking forward to the first social worker killed in the line of duty after taking over the police response. Won’t be long before social workers asked to be armed and issued protective vests. Then cops and social workers will look pretty much the same.
The root cause is that a majority of voters want this. Brandon Johnson and Kim Foxx are most popular in the communities with the highest crime. They’ve voted for a get out of jail free card. I’ve been told my an attorney friend of mine, that paradoxically, there’s some anecdotal evidence that the state’s attorneys the non-black areas of the county (north, northwest, southwest) are actually getting tougher on crime, and are ‘throwing the book’ to so speak at criminal defendants, especially white ones in the suburbs. There’s some observations that misdemeanors are being upgraded to felonies and that local… Read more »
It’s a faster way to get the percentages right. She’s approaching from both sides -prosecute more whites, prosecute fewer blacks. Eventually they will get to the proper racial balance. Actual crimes are not relevant.
Sounds very feasible. Never here this story covered on our local so- called news.
Those voters deserve to get what’s coming to them and get it good and hard.
Illinois has chased out private sector business, so there is no place to work.
Only growth industry in the Chitty is crime. It was the only thing taught in the CPS.
So get ready for another generation of rising crime rates. If you do not like it you can leave.
“If you do not like it you can leave.”
A lot of people must like it. Most are staying. Maybe they like the excitement of being around all the crime. Maybe they are just lazy. Maybe they want to live close to their drug dealers. Maybe they are the ones committing the crimes, because it sounds like the money is good with very little downside.
Everything is peachy until one is mugged , robbed or raped or murdered. Then it will be “why isn’t something being done” Or ” we must get rid of those guns”.
Stupid is as stupid does.
Time for a meeting at the Mystic Knights of the
Sea lodge. We will settle this crime issue once
And for all
Chicago just elected someone even more to the left of Lori LIghtfoot. It will get worse, not better. Anyone want to bet otherwise? Not only is the new mayor of Chicago incompetent, but he is stupid beyond words and incapable of understanding cause – and – effect in spite of seeing it play out over and over again. The outcomes are to be expected. The sad part is a responsible media could have swayed the election towards the right, and restored law and order if they simply played it down the middle. But the media opted to lie rather than… Read more »
There are a disproportionate number of Blacks in prison because a disproportionate number of Blacks commit crimes. The data shows this clearly but the Leftists and their handmaidens in the media will never acknowledge it.
Another liberal talking point is that Blacks are disproportionately pulled over or stopped…the reality is that there are simply more police in areas of high crime and this is the expected result.
From an article about the proliferation of private fire – fighting services in Johannesburg, South Africa, because of a larger breakdown of public services – this is prescient for Chicago: Anarchy in South Africa – Public services such as police, fire, and traffic control in South Africa are breaking down. Private firms are stepping in to take some of the burden. Twenty two percent of Johannesburg’s fire engines are owned and operated by private firms. https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2023/04/anarchy-in-south-africa.html “South Africa used to have public services. What they are suffering today is the dying gasps of a people that decided they’d throw laws… Read more »
Spot on GM. Originally being from Detroit I vouch for what you’ve wrote.
Wirepoints readers need to read up on Marcus Crassus. He became a billionair in ancient Rome by owning a private fire department. What’s old is new again.
South Africa, the first country to be completely run by the ideals of CRT.
Don’t forget Rhodesia.
Welp, Old Joe, like ancient Rome, we’ll have plenty of “bread and circuses” for entertainment, lol…!!! https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/11/us/politics/chicago-2024-democratic-convention.html Chicago Will Host 2024 Democratic Convention as Party Returns to Midwest For their flagship gathering, President Biden and Democrats chose a city in the heart of a battleground region, which had argued that it embodied the party’s liberal values. ““Chicago is a great choice to host the 2024 Democratic National Convention,” Mr. Biden said in a statement. “Democrats will gather to showcase our historic progress including building an economy from the middle out and bottom up, not from the top down.” Chicago’s boosters… Read more »
I hope a large number of convention goers get to meet the denizens of the criminal class when they decide to roam and visit the City.
They will love it!
Sadly this article is spot on. Root causes sounds nice as it panders to the Progressive base, but absent consequences for habitual law breakers will be no more effective than holding hands as we chant kum bah yah.
I’m tired of hearing about “tackling root causes” because it’s nonsense. The primary root cause is the lack of the nuclear family and proper parenting in the black community, as the overwhelming majority of violent crimes are committed by blacks, and usually but not always against blacks. So stow that root cause nonsense because the black community doesn’t want to fix itself. With the police leaving in droves, there is no fear of the police by the criminals. Why should they? The clearance rate is abysmal, and will only go down. And how meaningful is it to the murder victim… Read more »
The Democratic plan, starting with LBJ.
The progressives jump immediately to step 6, implement corrective action. Give us money! That’s all they really want; they frame it in terms of “root cause” to disguise the naked money grab.
They’ve been telling us for years that guns are the problem. I’m gonna need an explanation of how “investments in our neighborhoods” make those evil guns stop shooting.
All will be good when the city hires RoboCop, wait a sec, I meant RoboSocialWorker who will becalm the troubled waters. The new mayor has 3 on order, all black of course, no need for a White RoboSocialWorker.
Very Good! I love it!
“Of the 68,443 reported major crimes in 2022, there were just 3,228 arrests.”
Social workers and the SafeT Act are going to just fix this all right up.
Watch and see……
That’s funny!