A 3D illustration of Crime Statistics on the ground roped off by police tape. (Photo: AdobeStock)
Over the weekend, another 54 people were shot and 4 were killed in Chicago, including 2 teenagers who were reported missing. The latest string of carnage is arguably worse than the 48 people shot and 5 killed during the same weekend in 2017.
Over 14 hours from Friday afternoon to early Saturday, 25 people – including a 3-year-old boy – were shot in Chicago. Three people were shot while a 4th was beaten up at a back-to-school “peace picnic” held at a playground.
The event was held to promote peace and community.
“It’s senseless and should have never happened,” Raymond Hatcher, the event organizer told reporters. “We were doing well. Everything was going swell and then a group of guys who were not associated with us, came to the event intoxicated.”
Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson noted that homicides are actually down in the city by about 20% from last year. In 2017, Chicago had 650 homicides, down from 765 the year before. But the year isn’t over yet.
Further, Chicago still had more killings than New York and Los Angeles, combined. At least 7 people were killed and 32 were wounded during Memorial Day weekend.
President Donald Trump recently addressed the recent and ongoing bloodshed in Chicago at a Prison Reform Roundtable in Bedminister, N.J., on August 10. He called it “an absolute and total disaster” resulting from “bad leadership.”
“We must strengthen community bonds with law enforcement, including cities like Chicago that have been an absolute and total disaster,” the president said.
“We’ll be talking about Chicago today because that is something that, in terms of our nation, nobody would believe it could be happening,” he added. “They had 63 incidents last weekend and 12 deaths.”
Rahm Emanuel was elected the 44th and current mayor of Chicago in 2011. He assumed office on May 16, 2011 and was reelected on April 7, 2015. That year, there were only 431 murders, according to City-Data.com.
There were 431 murders that year and 432 the year prior. After his first year in office, murders spiked to 500, before dipping back down in 2013 (414) and 2014 (411). It hit 478 in 2015, and has exploded ever since.
Type |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arson (per 100,000) |
1,022 (35.3) |
1,016 (35.2) |
772 (26.9) |
683 (23.9) |
716 (25.2) |
705 (24.9) |
637 (22.5) |
609 (21.4) |
519 (18.3) |
503 (18.6) |
N/A | 403 (14.8) |
460 (16.9) |
534 (19.6) |
590 (21.7) |
| Murders (per 100,000) |
648 (22.4) |
651 (22.6) |
448 (15.6) |
446 (15.6) |
467 (16.4) |
443 (15.6) |
510 (18.0) |
459 (16.1) |
432 (15.2) |
431 (15.9) |
500 (18.5) |
414 (15.2) |
411 (15.1) |
478 (17.5) |
765 (28.1) |
| Rapes (per 100,000) |
1,963 (67.8) |
2,023 (70.1) |
1,757 (61.2) |
1,618 (56.5) |
1,524 (53.6) |
1,593 (56.2) |
1,569 (55.3) |
1,439 (50.4) |
1,372 (48.4) |
1,459 (54.0) |
N/A | N/A | 1,343 (49.3) |
1,432 (52.5) |
1,589 (58.3) |
| Auto thefts (per 100,000) |
25,245 (871.7) |
25,095 (869.5) |
22,786 (794.2) |
22,489 (785.8) |
21,820 (767.7) |
18,564 (655.3) |
18,969 (668.8) |
15,472 (542.4) |
19,441 (686.3) |
19,073 (705.4) |
17,001 (627.7) |
12,636 (464.5) |
10,023 (367.9) |
10,222 (374.6) |
11,473 (421.0) |
| Robberies (per 100,000) |
18,532 (639.9) |
18,529 (642.0) |
15,964 (556.5) |
15,959 (557.6) |
15,858 (558.0) |
15,409 (543.9) |
16,649 (587.0) |
15,880 (556.7) |
13,754 (485.5) |
12,405 (458.8) |
13,476 (497.6) |
11,815 (434.3) |
9,804 (359.9) |
9,649 (353.6) |
11,957 (438.8) |
| Burglaries (per 100,000) |
25,552 (882.3) |
25,613 (887.5) |
24,540 (855.4) |
25,295 (883.8) |
24,122 (848.7) |
24,715 (872.4) |
26,031 (917.9) |
26,513 (929.5) |
26,197 (924.7) |
26,413 (976.9) |
22,748 (839.9) |
17,775 (653.4) |
14,537 (533.6) |
13,151 (482.0) |
14,258 (523.2) |
| Assaults (per 100,000) |
24,842 (857.8) |
22,904 (793.6) |
18,818 (655.9) |
17,932 (626.6) |
17,439 (613.6) |
17,411 (614.6) |
17,029 (600.4) |
15,739 (551.8) |
14,210 (501.6) |
13,972 (516.8) |
12,272 (453.1) |
N/A | 12,531 (460.0) |
13,104 (480.2) |
15,815 (580.3) |
| Thefts (per 100,000) |
96,380 (3,328.0) |
97,481 (3,377.6) |
94,643 (3,298.9) |
83,226 (2,908.0) |
83,507 (2,938.2) |
82,404 (2,908.9) |
85,999 (3,032.3) |
78,659 (2,757.6) |
74,746 (2,638.5) |
72,355 (2,676.1) |
72,717 (2,684.9) |
65,497 (2,407.5) |
60,601 (2,224.6) |
57,022 (2,089.7) |
61,229 (2,246.8) |
| City-data.com crime index (higher means more crime, U.S. average = 280.5) | 746.1 | 738.1 | 650.2 | 610.1 | 604.2 | 592.2 | 615.5 | 568.7 | 540.4 | 547.9 | 536.3 | 473.0 | 425.4 | 426.4 | 510.7 |
City-data.com crime rate counts serious crimes and violent crime more heavily. It adjusts for the number of visitors and daily workers commuting into cities.
