32 Comments - Honeybear - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 10:55 am: This is our social system failing. What do people expect? When you throw away people and communities, this is what happens. It is only going to get worse I’m sure. The privileged will only bunker themselves further and enmesh themselves into their pretty world. Wait, I think I see Minister Mason coming. She’s carrying a shoe. Size 10 chaos I believe. (Snowpiercer) - Joe Biden Was Here - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 10:55 am: This is sad news, more so because no one seems to have a plan to make the situation better. Rauner? Emanuel? Anybody? - Federalist - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 11:05 am: Part of a larger problem probably best analyzed, described, and predicted implications for the future by Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan over 50 years ago. - There's something happening here - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 11:06 am: Before this year, the media were giving Chicago a bum rap on crime — the murder rate in the city had been almost half of what it was in the early 90’s and mid 70’s, when about 900 murders a year was the norm. But the big boost in shootings and other violent crime in 2016 cannot be brushed aside as media hype. Something significant is happening. There’s probably not enough data to determine if the “Ferguson Effect” is real yet, but the anecdotal evidence is starting to build. Cops might be reluctant to engage. Mark Brown, who ain’t exactly a FOP apologist, helps explain why: http://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/brown-i-wouldnt-want-to-be-a-cop/ - uptown progressive - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 11:11 am: There is no magic bullet - but in my community we lost CeaseFire funding (violence interrupters) and the CCBYS funding (crisis intervention with at-risk youth) was greatly reduced. No expansion in youth employment opportunities or for fully funded afterschool programing. These programs do make a difference. - 47th Ward - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 11:22 am: Yesterday’s shooting that wounded a seven-year-old girl occurred at a vigil for a 14-year-old boy who was gunned down in what police say was a gang-related shooting. So here’s the thing: bringing a child to a vigil attended by gang members involved in an active shooting war with rivals is not a great idea. These guys are bullet magnets. Stay away from them, keep your kids away from them, keep them out of your homes, cross the street when you see them coming, etc. There are relatively few thugs shooting up the city, but they blend in with normal people who are often then caught in the cross fire. Families and friends need to adopt a zero tolerance for gang-banging. Not in my house, not on my block. Easier said than done of course. - Earnest - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 11:31 am: >These programs do make a difference. If only Rauner worried that his intentional destruction of the social service system could result in him appearing “soft on crime.” - Anonymous - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 11:35 am: Mayor Emanuel has really mishandled the Chicago Police Department. He has relied on overtime rather than hiring an adequate number of new cops. He promised 1,000 new officers, but failed to deliver. He has pandered to the mobs too often and the Laquan McDonald scandal has Reelect Rahm’s fingerprints all over it. - Federalist - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 11:37 am: @ uptown progressive, Everything you cite are fringe answers promoted by the liberal establishment. In the final analysis they do nothing but allow the causes of these problems to continue as we have seen in the last several decades. This is the classic “hope triumphing over experience.” I realize there is no one magic bullet but until the extraordinary high rates of illegitimacy are brought under control the problems will continue. It absolutely amazes me how few are willing to discuss this issue. Yes, that includes President Obama who goes on little sermons about how bad White cops are but nothing as meaningful in changing our society as addressing high illegitimacy rates- particularly in the Black and Hispanic communities (ain’t that great among Whites either). This problem almost assures poverty and a dysfunctional ‘family’ that leads to much misery. Exceptions,? Sure. But that is what they are - Exceptions- and is not how a huge complex population works effectively. - uptown progressive - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 11:44 am: @ Federalist. Are you arguing that in the same period Illegitimacy rose by 48% thus explaining the hike in violence. - Responsa - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 11:48 am: Lack of adequate funding for specific social services for struggling families is indeed a tragedy, Honeybear. But violent thugs and gangbangers terrorizing communities and killing children (which until recently was taboo) while police are increasingly being demonized as a profession and neutralized in those same communities, cannot simply be diagnosed away by saying “our social system (is) failing”. It is really our moral system that is failing, isn’t it, and laying that all at the feet of “the privileged” (whoever they are) really does not fully get to the heart of the matter, does it? - cassandra - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 12:02 pm: Let’s not forget that some parts of Chicago are said to be a safe as Switzerland, and those of us who live in or near Chicago know which these (predominantly white, upper-middle-class) areas are. Chicago is deeply segregated, by race and economic status. More police and social services and persuading more folks to get married may help around the edges, but it is persistent segregation which must be addressed–and isn’t being addressed adequately at any level of goverment. Too risky for our political masters, I guess. - Stating the obvious - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 12:04 pm: What are the stats? How many Black on Black, White on Black, Black on White and White on White? - Last Bull Moose - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 12:06 pm: Uptown Progressive. Year to year increases or decreases have immediate causes. It could be a lowered police presence, a more fractured illegal drug market, a change in the acceptability of using guns, or a mix of these and other factors. There is an underlying problem with weak families. I saw a report that 50 percent of pregnancies were paid for through Medicaid, that means half of our children are born into poverty. Until we develop and implement a plan to delay pregnancies, support early childhood development, mentor while teaching, take the profit and status out of illegal activity, and show a path to status and money that is legal and attainable; expect more of the same. Our current efforts are inadequate. - Federalist - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 12:14 pm: @ - uptown progressive - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 11:44 am: @ Federalist. Are you arguing that in the same period Illegitimacy rose by 48% thus explaining the hike in violence. Did I say that? Of course I did not. That only goes to show the illogic that you are using. Whether it be crime, studying for academic success or just plain compound interest things are magnified when certain forces are set in motion. If you do not understand this I can not help you. - uptown progressive - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 12:20 pm: @ Federalist My point was that the thing that changed in the past 12 months was that important programs went away or were greatly diminished. Just a few lives saved matters to those families and communities. - Matt Vernau - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 12:21 pm: I will stand with federalist on this issue. He argues for the long term solution. Fathers can indeed control their sons and have a positive effect on community. But this route is the hardest thing to do. Love and Duty will get you better people than band aid programs. But how do we start building that system? - Ghost - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 12:28 pm: Responsa the police have not been reduced or eliminated in those communities. site facts please. the idea that an armed occupational force combats crime is ignornat and misunderstands history and society. social services were implemented inpart to help reudce crime. we need additional solutions for structured activites and development as well for kids; but people being angered a out cops use of force and lack of police presence is not causeing an increase in socieconomicaly deprived areas. I bet if we cut tour neighborhood off from food, healthcare, sanitation and swarmed it with unemployment, vermin etc you might feel different. That said we need a better social service system. the current one is flawed. We need to revisit the 20s and work programs. Provide jobs, work and health insurance as first line support in place of just financial support. for example. - Ron O - now in Texas - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 12:34 pm: The people (or Folks) doing the shooting are part of a culture that this is acceptable. we could list hundreds of small and big factors that have lead to this place they are in. Cease fire or after school basketball type programs wont stop this. The reality is the community needs more stable families, opportunities other than selling drugs or banging and of course policing. The current political environment does not lend itself to proactive policing. There is no money for “programs. And opportunity has been driven out of their neighborhoods by BOTH the politicians strangling business/investment and local crime in a violent cycle that makes thsoe with money NOT want to invest in their areas. the solution wont fit in comment or a simple plan. The reality is that these communities have to take some ownership themselves in conjunction with politicians that stop looking for the fast photo-op and start changing the way they think. Decades of doing the same things over and over dont seem to be helping. And electing the same people who dont help solve the problems is probably really key to this. - Responsa - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 12:36 pm: Ghost–Please. Police being “demonized and neutralized” (which I wrote), is not the same thing as “reduced and eliminated” (which you say I wrote, but did not.) So don’t expect a cite from me for your mis-read and misunderstanding of my post. - Belle - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 1:26 pm: The CPD district where I live has HALF the PO’s from 4 years ago. My understanding is that many days, some of those PO’s are sent to Special Events or Englewood/Austin or some where outside of the district to work. But, I doubt that the CPD numbers have anything to do with the growing numbers of crimes and murders? - Rod - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 1:54 pm: Here is the data as of August 16 for murders in Chicago for “Stating the obvious” that was requested. 349 murder victims were Black and 62 of the known assailants were Black. 73 murder victims were Hispanic and 19 of the known assailants were Hispanic. 22 murder victims were white and 2 of the known assailants were white. But the race of 6 victims was unknown and 361 of the assailants have never been charged so their race remains an unknown. I believe Memphis may have a higher murder rate than Chicago does. It’s not just Memphis and Chicago, either. Other large American cities are seeing jumps in homicide numbers https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/05/14/we-have-a-problem-homicides-are-up-again-this-year-in-more-than-two-dozen-major-u-s-cities/?utm_term=.a31759299130 - Mama - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 3:18 pm: I feel the real question is, why are these people killing each other in the first place? What can be done to change the mentality of violent gangs? We know strict gun laws don’t work. Are schools equipped to defuse gang members from killing one another? - Mama - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 3:20 pm: What can the churches do to help defuse gangs members from killing one another? - Just sayin - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 3:20 pm: Would it be racist to say that there was a larger number of known black assailants than known Hispanic or white assailants? I find it frustrating that very little outrage is expressed over the large number of black victims by black assailants. - Rich Miller - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 3:21 pm: ===I find it frustrating that very little outrage is expressed=== I find it frustrating that you don’t seem to notice all the outrage. - Mama - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 3:21 pm: “I believe Memphis may have a higher murder rate than Chicago does. It’s not just Memphis and Chicago, either. Other large American cities are seeing jumps in homicide numbers.” Did TN & those other states strip their social service programs too? - Mama - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 3:24 pm: “I find it frustrating that you don’t seem to notice all the outrage. ” Its better to find solutions to the problem than it is to have an outrage. Just saying, how would you solve this problem? - Just sayin - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 3:48 pm: First off, let’s not handicap the police officers who risk their jobs keeping everyone safe. They are afraid to do the right thing because of the “Laquan McDonald effect.” - Just sayin - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 3:49 pm: I meant to say risk their lives… - Honeybear - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 4:24 pm: They are afraid to do the right thing because of the “Laquan McDonald effect.” What do you mean? They are afraid to plug an unarmed black man in the back 16 times? - Arthur Andersen - Monday, Aug 22, 16 @ 7:36 pm: Honeybear, I think (hope) he is referring to what Rahm called “fetal” behavior by the CPD. See also, “Ferguson effect.” Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.