Today’s number: 20x
Thursday, Sep 18, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From Yale’s Andrew V. Papachristos…
Anyone looking at a crime map in any city can tell you that violence tends to concentrate in particular places, and this remains true even as crime rates move up and down. The result is a huge gap, not only in rates of crime and violence across communities but in how people experience crime rates.
For example, the violent crime rate in Chicago’s West Garfield Park, one of the most violent parts of the city, fell nearly 30 percent over the past three years. Yet, its average homicide rate during this period of 64 per 100,000 is more than 20 times the rate of Jefferson Park on the city’s Northwest side.
- Formerly Known As... - Thursday, Sep 18, 14 @ 12:59 pm:
These are often the same communities with crumbling infrastructure, a lack of social services or jobs, and poor schools.
Coincidence?
- PublicServant - Thursday, Sep 18, 14 @ 1:17 pm:
And? If the takeaway is “So let’s move more cops out of Jefferson Park, and put them in Garfield Park.”, well, good luck with that.
- Bogart - Thursday, Sep 18, 14 @ 1:22 pm:
FKA - if by infrastructure, you mean, streets, water and sewer lines, utilities and public transit facilities and schools, Jefferson Park has no more than Garfield Park. With regards to social services, Garfield Park has Jeff Park beat. And the public schools get the same amount per pupil from taxpayers. Maybe there are other reasons?
- Anon - Thursday, Sep 18, 14 @ 1:28 pm:
Twenty times higher. There are institutional factors responsible at least in part for such hugh disparities.
- PublicServant - Thursday, Sep 18, 14 @ 1:33 pm:
===There are institutional factors responsible at least in part for such hugh disparities.===
What the heck does that mean, Anon?
- Precinct Captain - Thursday, Sep 18, 14 @ 1:43 pm:
==- PublicServant - Thursday, Sep 18, 14 @ 1:33 pm:==
Do you not understand the idea of institutionalized public policy over a period of time, say decades?
- John Boch - Thursday, Sep 18, 14 @ 1:52 pm:
===There are institutional factors responsible at least in part for such hugh disparities.===
Well, let’s see: The adherence to the “no snitch” culture, for one. In my opinion, we need to replace “stitches for snitches” with “slugs for thugs”.
And then there is attitudes eschewing education, nuclear families, etc, while at the same time embracing the “hip hop” and “gangsta” culture - among the youth in particular.
How’s that for starters?
The main purpose I was going to write was if Rich factored in CPD’s propensity to fudge crime numbers in recent years.
Chicago Mag had a two-part series on that:
I:
http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/May-2014/Chicago-crime-rates/
II:
http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/June-2014/Chicago-crime-statistics/
John
- wordslinger - Thursday, Sep 18, 14 @ 1:58 pm:
No easy answers, but some observations:
– Illegal drugs are big business in this country. Since it’s outside of the law, the business is inherently violent in the competition for market share. Every metro of any size has areas where that business can operate with relative impunity. Just too much demand and too much money involved to stop it cold.
– Those areas are always where those with the least money and clout reside.
– The violence and crime associated with the illegal drug industry scares off any potential private capital formation, except for the few businesses willing to serve the consumer base at a very high premium.
– The capital earned from the illegal drug business is not reinvested in the communities where the industry is centered, but is repatriated back to outside investors.
– As long as the illegal drug industry and the violence associated with it remains isolated in those select communities with little money or influence, extraordinary measures or resources will not be brought to bear on the problem.
– If you started calling Englewood and West Garfield Park “Baghdad,” and “Kabul, and the Gangster Disciples and Vice Lords “ISIL” and “Taliban,” the powers-that-be would start throwing billions at the problem, money no object, no questions asked.
- Arizona Bob - Thursday, Sep 18, 14 @ 2:01 pm:
Pulllease! If you want correlation with crime rates, just look at the rate of unwed births, average age of unwed mother at birth, incidence of drug sales in the area, and percentage of residents receiving public assistance.
Those correlations cut across all ethnic and racial boundaries.
To change these statistics you need to change the CULTURE of those communities, and that takes REAL leadership, not just the self serving garbage you get from Jesse and Al.
One aside here. In rural communities, they’re experiencing many of the same problems seen in urban communities like Chicago. The biggest difference there is the drug of choice is crystal meth instead of crack. Both communities seem to be gravitating more and more into heroin, much to the detriment of the state and community. The trend has been that to see where the “white” community will be in ten years, just look at urban minority communities today.
To paraphrase Jon Stewart, ” In the 1950s and 60s, families fled from the cities because they thought their children would be influenced by black culture and drug abuse and out of wedlock pregnancies would skyrocket. Now, looking back at what happened from this culture being on every radio and TV…DARNED IF THEY WEREN’T RIGHT!”
- Gooner - Thursday, Sep 18, 14 @ 2:10 pm:
Arizona Bob is blaming “Jesse and Al” for the problems of one community, and then he wonders why people think he’s racist.
- Gooner - Thursday, Sep 18, 14 @ 2:14 pm:
By the way, I live on the near north side.
In my neighborhood, “black culture” means working as a surgeon at Northwestern Hospital. That seems to be the occupation of a lot of the African Americans around here. “Black culture” also seems to include a lot of law students too.
But maybe to Arizona Bob “black culture” means something different.
- VanillaMan - Thursday, Sep 18, 14 @ 2:24 pm:
He’s right Bob!
You cannot discuss this issue, even if you care, have African American friends, wife, children or grandchildren. Say! You can’t even discuss this issue if you were African American!
Because you aren’t a Democrat.
Case closed!
GUILTY!
- Gooner - Thursday, Sep 18, 14 @ 2:28 pm:
To Vanilla Man, “discussing the problem in one neighborhood means pointing the finger at Al and Jesse and blaming “black culture.”
That’s not really “discussing” the issue, unless the discussion is among those wearing pointy white hoods.
- VanillaMan - Thursday, Sep 18, 14 @ 2:31 pm:
Yeah - everyone who disagrees with you is wearing one.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Sep 18, 14 @ 2:34 pm:
VMan, you don’t have to announce your victimization every post, it’s just assumed.
What “issue” are you and Bob discussing, anyway?
- Gooner - Thursday, Sep 18, 14 @ 2:38 pm:
Wasn’t VMan yesterday defending Rauner’s failure to hire African Americans?
And now this today.
Well, Vanilla is definitely consistent.
- VanillaMan - Thursday, Sep 18, 14 @ 2:42 pm:
Wasn’t VMan yesterday defending Rauner’s failure to hire African Americans?
Nope.
But you thought I did, and that’s good enough for you, right?
- Gooner - Thursday, Sep 18, 14 @ 2:47 pm:
The rest of us can look at your comment of 1:17 in that thread and make a determination, VMan. I made sure my recollection was correct before I posted.
Reading the comment, I didn’t understand you to be critical of Rauner for failing to hire. Instead, your comment seemed to be directed at those “playing the race card.”
But responding to Arizona and Vanilla has taken us off topic. The post above points out the serious difference in two neighborhoods. We should be discussing that, rather than two individuals.
- VanillaMan - Thursday, Sep 18, 14 @ 2:47 pm:
What “issue” are you and Bob discussing, anyway?
Hall monitoring again?
- Precinct Captain - Thursday, Sep 18, 14 @ 2:49 pm:
==- Gooner - Thursday, Sep 18, 14 @ 2:38 pm:==
==- VanillaMan - Thursday, Sep 18, 14 @ 2:42 pm:==
https://capitolfax.com/2014/09/17/black-radio-ad-slams-rauner-for-failure-to-hire-a-single-african-american-at-company/#comment-11617052
- VanillaMan - Thursday, Sep 18, 14 @ 2:49 pm:
But responding to Arizona and Vanilla has taken us off topic. The post above points out the serious difference in two neighborhoods. We should be discussing that, rather than two individuals.
You did that by going after Bob’s comments.
- VanillaMan - Thursday, Sep 18, 14 @ 2:50 pm:
LOL!
To the under 40 crowd - this means snark.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Sep 18, 14 @ 3:04 pm:
VMan, I wasn’t telling you boys, what to talk about, I was just wondering what the subject was.
I thought it was murder rates.
- Anon - Thursday, Sep 18, 14 @ 3:38 pm:
What institutional factors?
How about a long history of housing discrimination that has led to Chicago being one of the most racially segregated big cities in the nation?
How about a long history of job discrimination that makes a black man with a diploma and no criminal history less employable than a white man with a criminal history?
How about a long history of racial profiling by the CPD, which means a black kid’s chances of being busted for pot are far higher than his white counterpart’s?
How about a long history of harsher treatment in the criminal justice system, from start to finish, for black defendants charged with the same crime as whites?
Is that a sufficient institutional factor to explain the 20X disparity?
- Cassandra - Thursday, Sep 18, 14 @ 4:05 pm:
Some sociologists have recently pointed out that young women with kids may be better off not getting married, if marriage means taking on another mouth to feed, that is, a spouse who can’t find a job, or can’t find a steady job. And many men, once caught in the criminal justice system, even for nonviolent offenses, will face extreme difficulty getting employment, as others have noted. In the US, this is particularly true of young African American men.
Marriage and the right “culture,” whatever that is, can’t fix everything. The social and political circumstances of our lives have a huge effect, much as we like to believe we alone are responsible for all our positive outcomes.
- Formerly Known As... - Thursday, Sep 18, 14 @ 4:05 pm:
== “black culture” means working as a surgeon ==
Speaking of surgeons, some of the comments by Dr. Ben Carson would probably be labeled ==racist== as well if they were posted here without attribution.
But that would probably be a useless thought experiment when we have campaign stuff to argue and yell at each other about. Maybe another day.
- FormerParatrooper - Thursday, Sep 18, 14 @ 6:01 pm:
There are serious problems. Our past experience defines how we perceive what the problems are. Yet no one has ventured a solution. Everyone wants to appear they the experts and that they have solutions. Those solutions have never materialized.
All I see is people arguing who is racists or what political party cares more. That doesn’t solve the problem.
Who here grew up in one of the violent neighborhoods? Or even still lives in one? What is the root of the violence in your opinion? What do you believe needs to be done? Is there hope?