There’s an article at the web site of Chicago’s public radio station, WBEZ, that does some back-of-the-napkin calculations on how expensive it would be to implement a jobs program that would in their words “eliminate a significant amount of violence” here in Chicago. Here’s their bottom line:
That final price tag, $1.1 billion for the program’s first year, is no small sum. But, just for context, it’s around the planned cost of redeveloping Union Station downtown. It’s also roughly what Illinois spends to keep its violent offenders in prison for one year.
And, while we’re considering cost, it might be a lot more expensive to allow Chicago’s shooting surge to continue. For starters, there’s the policing, incarceration and medical care. The violence is probably also a factor in the city’s population drop — a drain on the tax base. Another drain is simply having those 30,000 at-risk people jobless.
Now just for the record I think they’re making some bad assumptions, especially thinking that full-time $13/hour jobs would have the impact they’re projecting but let’s go with them on that. I have a few additional observations.
First, a very large percentage of Chicago’s homicides take place in a very small number of neighborhoods. Rather than looking in 26 of the city’s 77 community areas, I’d suggest they concentrate on the 15 that account for two-thirds of the homicides. Presumably, doing something about the economies of just those areas would have the most impact at a lower cost than in 26 neighborhoods. Heck, a third of the homicides take place in just five neighborhoods. Wouldn’t those be a good place to start?
Second, I’m going to suggest something that some people will view as argumentative. We’d be better off promoting economic growth on the South and West sides of the city than we would adding additional police officers. I’m not even going to try to prove my claim. Chicago already has the highest ratio of police officers to population of any major city. I see no reason to believe that increasing that ratio will change anything.
Finally, just as a bare minimum doesn’t it make sense for the Illinois legislature, the Cook County Board, and Chicago City Council to stop taking actions that will reduce economic activity? Some examples of such recent actions: the recent income tax hike, property tax hikes, and sugared soft drink tax. First do no harm, people.
Down in the patch there have been some odd developments this last year as murder rates have spiked. The cops explained its not gangs, as much as it is two large groups in a feud. My alderman responded that he wished it was gangs, so they would wipe each other out. This led to complaints that he should be kicked off office, etc.
My daughter asked a few weeks ago why her classmate was on the front page of the newspaper crying. I explained that her older brother had been shot and killed because he was mistaken as a friend of a guy believed to have shot and killed a pregnant woman, who was mistakenly killed because she resembled the target, etc. I kind of get where my alderman is coming from; it feels like a viral infection.
My wife says its usually people shooting people because of “disrespect” or someone dating someone else’s girlfriend. I’m not sure of the answer. I think the city is planning a block party in the neighborhood where the contagion is centered, but I fear this could backfire.
Hmmmm. I thought midnight basketball had solved all these problems.
The south side has done a much better job at development than the west side. (Excepting the near west side). I dont really know why.
The blacks, who have a monopoly on violent crime just about everywhere Mexicans aren’t dominant, have IQ’s in the 70’s, and are basically untrainable for any but the most menial jobs. They parasites on the broader, white society. The only effective way to suppress their violence is very heavy-handed, in-your-face policing, a 24/7 martial law. Mass, long-term imprisonment, perhaps concentration camps, is also needed.
The bright side is that nation-wide only about 2 million or so black males between 15 and 30 are resposible for all the mayhem. That is a manageable problem given the will to attack it.
It’s an urban problem afflicting the black community. The homicide rate among young rural black men is about the same as among the same age group of rural whites.
I’ve found it interesting that gang behavior mimics prison, where pants sag because belts are confiscated, men communicate with hand signals because they can’t see any other body part from the adjoining cell, and, it’s silent. Alliances are formed for protection.
I think it should at least be considered that prison itself may be the incubator for the behavior we want to mitigate.
I don’t have the solution, but among urban Blacks, everyone has family members in and out of prison, especially on drug charges, and there is no shame attached to it. Prison does not deter.