Chicago leads nation in homicides
Joel Ebert
Issue date: 11/17/08 Section: News
![Chicago's homicide rate tops that of both New York and Los Angeles, whose rates have both been decreasing. [Information compiled from 2007 Chicago Police Department, 2007 New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services and 2007 Los Angeles Police Department annual reports.]](http://media.collegepublisher.com/media/paper519/stills/1vh8mmhi.jpg)
Media Credit: Joel EbertChicago's homicide rate tops that of both New York and Los Angeles, whose rates have both been decreasing. [Information compiled from 2007 Chicago Police Department, 2007 New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services and 2007 Los Angeles Police Department annual reports.]
Chicago leads nation in homicides
In the same week that Barack Obama was declared the President-elect, Chicago's homicide rate topped that of last year.
The deaths of Brian Murdock, 15, and Quinton Buckner, 17, on Nov. 7, raised Chicago's murder rate for 2008 to 447, according to a Chicago Sun-Times article. ("City Surpasses Last Year's Homicide Total," Nov. 8)
Chicago currently sits ahead of both New York and Los Angeles in homicides during 2008. According to the Sun-Times as of Oct. 21, New York and Los Angeles have 417 and 302 murders in 2008, respectively.
Last year Chicago had 443 murders, compared to 496 in New York City and 394 in Los Angeles.
Among the most populous cities in the United States, Chicago ranks at number three with a population of just under three million. New York City has approximately eight million citizens, while Los Angeles has fewer than four million.
Chicago made headlines in 1998, surpassing both New York and Los Angeles in homicides. Over the past decade, Chicago's murder rate declined with the exception of 2001 and 2006, when homicides were higher than the preceding year.
Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis, who was hired by Mayor Daley last November, has been criticized by some for focusing too much on cleaning up his department. Under Weis's supervision, murders have risen while arrests have fallen, according the Sun-Times article.
But Weis's supervision may not fully account for the current homicide rate.
Despite Chicago's rise in murders in 2008, the main concern of some is the inner- workings of the city itself. UIC Criminal Justice Professor John Hagedorn finds Chicago's murder rate compared to New York alarming because it did not previously exist.
Hagedorn sees a variety of factors that help explain Chicago's relatively high murder rate. He explained that during the 1990s the unsettling of communities, destruction of public housing projects, gentrification and school closings along with the interaction of "institutionalized gangs" all had an effect on the rate of crime in Chicago.
"Chicago's violence problem is linked to its tradition of racial exclusion," Hagedorn said. He continued, "Until the black community is treated as an equal partner in the polity and considerable more opportunities opened, violence will continue at unacceptable rates."
With the death of approximately seven more victims since the Nov. 8th Sun-Times article, Chicago's homicide total runs to 454. According to the same article, the city is on pace to see 500 murders before the end of the year. The last time Chicago had exceeded 500 murders was in 2003, with 598 homicides.
|
In the same week that Barack Obama was declared the President-elect, Chicago's homicide rate topped that of last year.
The deaths of Brian Murdock, 15, and Quinton Buckner, 17, on Nov. 7, raised Chicago's murder rate for 2008 to 447, according to a Chicago Sun-Times article. ("City Surpasses Last Year's Homicide Total," Nov. 8)
Chicago currently sits ahead of both New York and Los Angeles in homicides during 2008. According to the Sun-Times as of Oct. 21, New York and Los Angeles have 417 and 302 murders in 2008, respectively.
Last year Chicago had 443 murders, compared to 496 in New York City and 394 in Los Angeles.
Among the most populous cities in the United States, Chicago ranks at number three with a population of just under three million. New York City has approximately eight million citizens, while Los Angeles has fewer than four million.
Chicago made headlines in 1998, surpassing both New York and Los Angeles in homicides. Over the past decade, Chicago's murder rate declined with the exception of 2001 and 2006, when homicides were higher than the preceding year.
Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis, who was hired by Mayor Daley last November, has been criticized by some for focusing too much on cleaning up his department. Under Weis's supervision, murders have risen while arrests have fallen, according the Sun-Times article.
But Weis's supervision may not fully account for the current homicide rate.
Despite Chicago's rise in murders in 2008, the main concern of some is the inner- workings of the city itself. UIC Criminal Justice Professor John Hagedorn finds Chicago's murder rate compared to New York alarming because it did not previously exist.
Hagedorn sees a variety of factors that help explain Chicago's relatively high murder rate. He explained that during the 1990s the unsettling of communities, destruction of public housing projects, gentrification and school closings along with the interaction of "institutionalized gangs" all had an effect on the rate of crime in Chicago.
"Chicago's violence problem is linked to its tradition of racial exclusion," Hagedorn said. He continued, "Until the black community is treated as an equal partner in the polity and considerable more opportunities opened, violence will continue at unacceptable rates."
With the death of approximately seven more victims since the Nov. 8th Sun-Times article, Chicago's homicide total runs to 454. According to the same article, the city is on pace to see 500 murders before the end of the year. The last time Chicago had exceeded 500 murders was in 2003, with 598 homicides.
Be the first to comment on this story