Chicago Violent Crime Is Up

At Illinois Policy Patrick Andriesen and Jon Josko report that violent crime has risen in Chicago over the last year:

Chicagoans experienced 7.2% more violent crime from August 2023 through July 2024 than during the previous 12 months, with cases of aggravated assault, aggravated battery and robbery reaching five-year highs.

Residents reported 30,375 violent crimes through July. Cases of violent crime increased but the arrest rate for these felonies dropped to just 12.8%, the second-lowest level in the past five years.

Overall, robberies were the most common violent crime, accounting for 36% of incidents. Batteries and assaults were an additional 57% of cases.

That’s probably understated. As I have documented before a significant number of 911 calls requiring a police response go without such a response. That means that they are not even included in the police statistics. If that happens enough people stop reporting crimes.

So-called “smash and grab” robberies are a multiple times nightly occurrence, sometimes a dozen times a night or more. Recently, these have taken the form of using a truck or SUV, frequently stolen, and chains to tear the doors off a store or restaurant. Frequently, the robbers get very little from such robberies and the damage is much more costly than the robbery itself.

Whether homicides have risen or declined depends the period over which you are looking. They are down relative to a year or two ago, up relative to five years ago, down relative to seven years ago, and considerably up relative to a decade ago.

When people feel insecure they vote not necessarily at the ballot box but with their feet. Chicago’s population is the lowest it has been in a century. Much of the flight has been from the South and West sides.

I’ve already given my prescription: law enforcement, City Hall, the states attorney’s office, and the judiciary all need to be pulling in the same direction. What good does it do for a police officer to arrest a suspect if City Hall bloviates about root causes, the states attorney won’t prosecute and, if prosecuted, judges won’t convict.