Stunning rise in Chicago carjackings leaves lawmakers scrambling – Wirepoints

By: Matt Rosenberg

Last year Chicago suffered 1,852 carjackings, or theft of a vehicle from the driver by force. That’s five per day – and dramatically more than in 2010 – when there were 570 carjackings or just one-and-a-half per day. Carjacking is just one of the many ways Chicagoans are victimized by crime

One of the legislative failures contributing to the jump in Chicago carjackings came when lawmakers in 2015 rescinded the right of county prosecutors to charge juvenile carjackers as adults. Juveniles have recently been responsible for nearly half or more of carjackings or carjacking arrests in Chicago. 

Chicago police say growth in carjacking is being driven by juveniles; other departments nationwide report the same thingChicago Police Superintendent David Brown has said most carjackings in the city are perpetrated by 15- to 20-year-olds. He reiterated the centrality of juveniles today. In addition, juvenile carjackers on probation have been charged in several murders – including the killings of Chicagoans Melissa Ortega and Keith Cooper. Some analysts say victim guesstimates of the age of carjackers suggest the majority aren’t juveniles. 

Part of the latest attempt by lawmakers to respond to growing pressure on crime and carjacking is HB 1100 and within it, House Floor Amendment No. 2

Sponsored by Democrats only, it aims at carjacking instigators who recruit juveniles. To further battle carjacking, it would provide for grants to local governments and community groups, and tweak the state bureaucracy. In other words, it sidesteps the core of the problem: poor arrest rates; a revolving door bail system and weak sentencing for juvenile carjackers; and lax parenting.

HB1100 defines a Class 1 felony of predatory vehicular carjacking as when anyone older than 18 recruits anyone younger than 18 to commit that crime. With Chicago’s “Don’t Snitch” ethos, good luck making that charge stick.

The bill would also establish a state program of grants to street-level intervention programs to prevent the recruitment of youths for vehicular carjacking. But there are already a slew of Chicago violence intervention groups with outreach counselors on the streets. And more funding for such groups is already planned under an executive order from Governor J.B. Pritzker. How would this add anything but another layer of government bureaucracy and funding?

HB 1100 further provides for grants to local governments, businesses, and nonprofits to identify, arrest, and prosecute carjackers and recover stolen vehicles. Again, more money? How about for starters, Cook County prosecutors don’t decline to prosecute carjacking in slightly more than half the cases police present to them with suspects identified?

The proposed legislation adds vehicle hijacking to the mission and name of the state body currently called the Illinois Motor Vehicle Theft Prevention and Insurance Verification Council. So bureaucrats sitting in a meeting room guiding plans to combat vehicle theft, recycled metal theft and insurance fraud, will now also issue directives against carjacking? One can imagine prospective carjackers quaking at the very thought. UPDATE, 4.9.22: This last provision and the anti-carjacking grants ended up approved by both chambers attached to another bill, HB 3699. HB 1100 cleared the House it did not emerge from the Senate by the close of the legislation session. 

Lawmakers also introduced SB 4205. The bill would seek to require car manufacturers to cooperate on activating built-in GPS in vehicles manufactured in 2015 or later, if and when they are stolen. The data would be shared with police through a 24-7 hotline. UPDATE, 4.9.22: SB 4205 did not gain approval before the legislature’s adjournment.

Concerns about carjacking have sharpened with the crime’s growth in Chicago and other major U.S. cities over the last two years. Carjackings rose only 6 percent in Chicago from 2010 to 2019 but skyrocketed 207 percent from 2019 to 2021.

The go-to explanation for carjackings has been the COVID pandemic and kids out of school. Now, COVID has been waning for several months and yet carjackings are still up in Chicago. Through March, 2022 carjackings have increased 3 percent from the same period last year. 

And in those first three months of the new year, juveniles were charged in 57 percent of carjacking arrests.

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47 Comments
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Streeterville
1 year ago

Current political trend is to IGNORE the crime-victim, and elevate worry about supposed “root cause” of criminal behavior. Our SJW pundits think it’s all “social-injustice” and BLM-sanctioned “equitable redistribution of assets”. There’s a pervasive sense of ZERO personal accountability when individuals commit said crime. Just lots of handwringing regarding “poor criminal as victim-of-societal forces”. More BS from our inept, if not outright corrupt, Chicago and Cook County politicians. Chicago’s citizens who are car-jacked are literally ignored by our political leaders, and as so directed, by Chicago Police leadership too. Those same politicians have their taxpayer-provided bodyguards. Lightfoot has a personal… Read more »

Last edited 1 year ago by Streeterville
Rick
1 year ago

Do what they did in the 1920’s… The cops got a bonus for every arrest. Incentivize.

James
1 year ago
Reply to  Rick

You are asking for trouble there, too. Incentivizing may well ramp up the number of arrests, but we all know that that often is causes racial profiling. You are asking for a big back lash of social unrest when you encourage police where that applies as it often will. Very few, if any, complex problems are solved by simple single-arrow solutions.

debtsor
1 year ago
Reply to  James

Is it racial profiling when the police observe a 14 year old speeding down Dearborn St. with a a stolen Dodge Charger?

James
1 year ago
Reply to  debtsor

Maybe and maybe not. Nobody can say without knowing the overall circumstances. Superficial judgments are not always right.

Willowglen
1 year ago
Reply to  James

James – is racial profiling really a problem with carjacking? Stealing a car with the threat of violence or with actual violence is not equivalent to disproportionately giving speeding tickets to black drivers. Don’t get me wrong, racial profiling is wrong, but what role does it play in carjacking? I would think almost none.

James
1 year ago
Reply to  Willowglen

Again, maybe so and maybe not. What may seem simple often is not when more intelligence is gathered.

Thee Jabroni
1 year ago
Reply to  Willowglen

lets all quit b-shitting,most of the crimes i see on tv are commited by blacks,sorry if that offends but its the truth,so,call me a “racist” for saying what no one else on here will say-as Stone Cold says-THATS THE BOTTOM LINE!!

James
1 year ago
Reply to  Thee Jabroni

If you are feeling a predilection that’s one thing. Acting and/or speaking are different matters when a person is being charged with a crime. Police are expected to be neutral or at least speak and act that way.

Thee Jabroni
1 year ago
Reply to  James

do you watch the news teacher james?-its a simple fact that most of the crimes reported are commited by blacks,you can candy coat it any way you want,but,facts are facts

James
1 year ago
Reply to  Thee Jabroni

I haven’t argued your facts. I’m simply trying to tell you that if a policeman or even an accusatory citizen openly targets a “person of color” as the perp without first giving substantive reasons for doing so its going to create mountains of trouble for him/her and show prejudicial treatment in the way the case was handled.

Thee Jabroni
1 year ago
Reply to  James

for once,you are correct sir

NB
1 year ago

Where’s all the community violence interupters? community mental health interventionists?, Cities rapid equity response team, etc?, and all the other covid equity grant $bucks$ to fight crime gone to stop the carjackers? NOBODY ASKS, NOBODY CARES. I still have no idea what a “violence interrupter” does other than sit at home collecting a check through some taxpayer/ covid $ funded non-for-profit?

Paul Boomer
1 year ago

Tougher sentences for juvenile car jackers are coming from the Illinois democrapic controlled legislature. All juveniles arrested and charged in car jacking instances will now get a warm glass of milk, a cookie of their choice, a cheery bedtime story and a nap.

Lin Feddor Cappozzo
1 year ago

I no longer live in a world I recognize. We hear car jacking, car jacking, child shot and killed in crossfire gang wars. And the speaking people say another weekend in Chicago. As if it’s become a familiar occurrence. We see the pictures in Ukraine and the speaking people say this is genocide, they need more aid. Send money send supplies. What the hell is wrong with this picture? Both are horrific and horrible. Why isn’t anyone screaming about the loss of life each weekend here? Why aren’t they saying more boots on the ground? More weapons to combat the… Read more »

1 year ago

Well said, Lin. You know well that I grew up in this same city and lived here for 30 years before leaving and now returning. It’s a shocking deterioration. It will be important for Chicago’s business community to find its voice again as the next election cycle approaches. The big issues – including but not limited to crime – need to be explicated and well ventilated. And we need much more than the usual paltry turnout of registered voters in our off-year local elections. Thirty-some percent just won’t do. That’s going to require a robust non-partisan voter education and outreach… Read more »

Thee Jabroni
1 year ago

yea,wheres black lives matter?-what a fake,phony orginization

Indy
1 year ago

Because this is America. Nation of Death.

ToughLove
1 year ago

Perhaps if every car in the city was stolen, they might vote differently, but I doubt it. Chicago deserves its fate. I’ve accepted it. Wirepoints should as well.

1 year ago
Reply to  nixit

That you I have added this link in a reference to the doubts some have that the carjacking population is mainly juvenile. However I note the Ludwig/UC Crime Lab data are based on victim guesstimates of the age of perps. Who are often seen just fleetingly. More arrests and therefore more arrest data would help.

debtsor
1 year ago
Reply to  Matt Rosenberg

https://www.kare11.com/article/news/crime/prosecutor-75-of-solved-minneapolis-carjackings-committed-by-juveniles/89-0b9db596-c498-4263-bba3-81e4a52905a8

Prosecutor: 75% of solved Minneapolis carjackings committed by juvenilesThe Hennepin County Attorney’s Office has filed 9 cases against adults and 33 against juveniles. Minneapolis police report 358 carjackings in 2020.

MINNEAPOLIS — In 30 years of prosecuting, Tom Arneson says the rise in carjackings this year is unprecedented, with three-quarters of them committed by young teens.
“The majority really are 14 to 15 years old,” Arneson said.

Last edited 1 year ago by Matt Rosenberg
Jay
1 year ago

On the way to dinner the other night in Little Italy, because of the traffic the Apple GPS wanted me to get off the Eisenhower earlier than Western, and work the streets down to the restaurant. I respectfully declined, knowing my territory & knowing this version of the GPS did not have the ‘Carjacking Probability’ version 2.0 installed as of yet.

1 year ago
Reply to  Jay

GPS service providers for for problematic urban environments should integrate carjacking geo-tags from the City of Chicago crime database, with a heat-map graphic feature. Other major crime categories too.

Ataraxis
1 year ago
Reply to  Matt Rosenberg

I used to use the Neighborhood section on realtor.com for crime info, as the neighborhood map for an address had a color coded crime overlay map. This was especially useful when traveling for choosing a hotel or restaurant. However, the woke CEO decided this function was racist, as if people who don’t look like him might want to know the crime level in an area where there’s a house they might buy, so now it’s gone. Can’t make this stuff up anymore. We need a national website that focuses exclusively on these woke hypocrites to point out how they don’t… Read more »

1 year ago
Reply to  Ataraxis

Well, that’s a telling story if they removed the crime overlay feature. Any related links of which you’re aware?

Ataraxis
1 year ago
Reply to  Matt Rosenberg

https://www.dailywire.com/news/real-estate-websites-remove-crime-data-citing-racial-bias

The funniest part, when I went to use this function and saw it was gone, I instantly knew the reason. They still list “security” as a map function, but I do not know why.

1 year ago
Reply to  Ataraxis

Thanks very much for both of these links.

Ataraxis
1 year ago
Reply to  Matt Rosenberg

Here’s the crime maps I now use.
https://www.city-data.com/crime/

Thee Jabroni
1 year ago

Lori the Lightfoot could care less about you or I,as long as she has her 15 cops protecting her 24-7 ,she probably wont get her limosine car jacked

Mark
1 year ago

Maybe we need more radio hosts in the sheriffs dept,What’s Gary Meyer doing these days?

Tom Jurich
1 year ago

I’ve an easy solution. Charge, convict and incarcerate and ensure safer streets.

HeywoodJaBlome
1 year ago
Reply to  Tom Jurich

Now that’s funny

Pat S.
1 year ago
Reply to  HeywoodJaBlome

But no one, except the criminals, are laughing.

debtsor
1 year ago

In other cities with car jacking problems, the task forces have surmised that most carjackings are committed by a relatively small number of people, more often than not, they are juveniles. They know who they are and where they live but there’s no political will to stop the problem because you know systemic racism or something. I wonder if that’s the case in Chicago.

Last edited 1 year ago by debtsor
1 year ago
Reply to  debtsor

Ah, very much so. In fact, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle accented that very point back in 2018 when Chicago’s then-mayor and police chief proposed tightening a loophole in state law – not exactly for carjacking, but for possession of a stolen vehicle. Getting rid of the legal wiggle room for riders in stolen vehicles who feign ignorance the vehicle is stolen, would unfairly target youths of color, she argued.

Last edited 1 year ago by Matt Rosenberg
Pat S.
1 year ago
Reply to  Matt Rosenberg

Could that be because juvenile POCs are committing The majority of the crimes?

Tim Favero
1 year ago

Carjackers, especially juveniles, know that they can get away with carjacking because C(r)ook County States Attorney Kim Foxx will not prosecute.

vb
1 year ago

When you encourage bad behavior, you get more of it. Removing all punishment is encouragement. The current crop of justice reformers have not learned this lesson. But they probably don’t care. Justice reform is all about the criminal, victims don’t matter. Thousands of carjacking victims are invisible to justice reformers.

1 year ago
Reply to  vb

Sadly true. And carjacking is a crime with a tremendous impact on victims. Their experience does not count.

Ataraxis
1 year ago
Reply to  Matt Rosenberg

The grief of victims, long a factor in human history for change for the better, and for righting wrongs, seems to be totally absent in Chicago.

Ataraxis
1 year ago
Reply to  Ataraxis

To be clear, the grief of victims is there, it just never becomes a force for change in Chicago.

Pat S.
1 year ago
Reply to  Matt Rosenberg

Victims? Who gives a darn about victims? Definitely not Chicago or many other Democrat-run major cities. Been to Baltimore lately?

debtsor
1 year ago
Reply to  vb

We are experiencing something defined as anarcho-tyranny.  “Anarcho-Tyranny describes a society that is simultaneously defined by chaos and by repression. The result of anarcho-tyranny is that government swells in power, criminals are not controlled, and law-abiding citizens wind up being repressed by the state and attacked by thugs.” Usually because the state is weak and focuses its energy not on governing but instead repression of citizens and attacking internal enemies. I can’t say for certain if our leaders are aiming for a state of anarcho-tyranny, but this appears to be the outcome of progressive policies as applied in deep blue… Read more »

Last edited 1 year ago by debtsor
Lions Choice
1 year ago

Illinois Democrats Crime-Enabling Laws Created The Carjacking Crisis — Now They Say They Have A ‘Fix’ For The Mess They Made — EVERYTHING EXCEPT ACTUALLY GETTING TOUGH ON CARJACKERS – CBS 2 ChicagoTHANKS TO AN ILLINOIS DEMOCRAT LAW — PUSHED BY CROOKED/CORRUPT COOK COUNTY DEMOCRAT BOSS TONI PRECKWINKLE — TEENAGE CARJACKERS — WHO COMMIT 60 PERCENT OF CHICAGO CARJACKINGS — GET A FREE PASS IN ILLINOIS

Last edited 1 year ago by Lions Choice
Rick
1 year ago

Carjackers talk to each other, they give each other tips and lessons on how to do car jackings. Thats why the rate of carjackings rises so fast.

M.H. D.
1 year ago
Reply to  Rick

Shoot. I just knew social media and “smart” phones had some “useful” purpose. Enroll in Chicago’s Juvenile Carjacking Institute. No tuition necessary. Just demonstrated willingness to do the deed.

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