Why does Chicago get such a bad rap for its murder rate? (death, how much)

[thegrid]

Originally Posted by emathias

What happened in places like Bronzeville, the South Shore, Englewood and much of the West Side is a combination of those two things. The elimination of racial covenants was a good thing for the long term, but in the short term it created white flight. That that coincided both with the policy of creating expressways in and out of the central city, and with riots associated with the turmoil of the 1960s and the assassinations of MLK, Bobby Kennedy, Malcolm X, and other incidents of that era only exacerbated the flight of those with money out of previously prosperous neighborhoods.

When your wealthiest taxpayers leave your jurisdiction, you no longer have the resources for heavy investment, and the investments you can make have to be in things that are likely to create a relatively quick economic return on investment. Social programs do not usually have short-term ROI - their return on investment is measured in generations, not in years, so they are not usually a first choice in cash-strapped places.

this is all historically true, but my question is when do we stop pointing our fingers at what happened 40+ years ago and start looking at those that remain in a neighborhood but fail to maintain, take care of, or develop their surroundings within the span of a generation? white middle class families might have moved away in the late 60s, but what about everything that's happened since? Seems these poor mostly black or hispanic neighborhoods have been in a death spiral from their own bad choices. I think blame can be spread all over, but a good amount of responsibility is on the residents of these neighborhoods, I think. But yet, the only perspective I ever hear is how city hall screwed them or how white flight is the problem or the cops that have to patrol those neighborhoods are to blame.

[UPChicago]

Originally Posted by ptug101

why should he do something if its really not a problem,compared to other cities.
also if crime dropped more Chicago more gentrification will happen like New York.
Prices will go up and then people will start complaining the rent is too high. Middle class whites
are complaing in NY right now about the rent

So you're saying keep the crime so that rent doesn't go up? The crime in Chicago is not good and although it may be exaggerated in the media, it's real and needs to stop or this city will not be a desirable place to live, visit or do business. Compared to it's peer cities (L.A. and New York) Chicago has a terrible murder rate.

[augiedogie]

Chicago's murder rate is news first because it is one of the largest cities in the country, and because it has the highest murder rate of those cities. Yes, there are other cities on this list that have higher murder rates than Chicago, but you'll also note that they are basketcases in most cases, Memphis, Baltimore, Detroit. That does not put Chicago in a positive light. Considering their declining population, and budget problems, it raises serious questions about the future for Chicago.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by augiedogie

Chicago's murder rate is news first because it is one of the largest cities in the country, and because it has the highest murder rate of those cities. Yes, there are other cities on this list that have higher murder rates than Chicago, but you'll also note that they are basketcases in most cases, Memphis, Baltimore, Detroit. That does not put Chicago in a positive light. Considering their declining population, and budget problems, it raises serious questions about the future for Chicago.

Except the overall crime rate of Chicago, including homicides, has been decreasing for the last 20 years. The rate is pretty much half of what it was say 20-25 years ago. Most neighborhoods, not all, for pretty much all crime categories have been decreasing too.

And population decrease is not necessarily a bad thing, although the population in the last few years is actually slightly increasing again.

[lastonestanding]

Originally Posted by ColdAilment

It's been starting to die off this year due to the decreased violence rate in Chicago, but it seems like the media, and republicans especially enjoy targetting the democratic bastion Chicago as a point to their failed policies and gun regulations, talking about how out of control the murder rate and violence in general are in Chicago.

While 500 murders in 2012 alone is rather high, I think Chicago is being treated a little unfairly as there are other cities with FAR higher rates than Chicago that aren't in the same spotlight. A lot of people just hear the number 500 and automatically assume that's the highest rate of any city in the country, and lo and behold, it's actually only slightly higher than average. I took a host of other cities to compare their murder numbers if they were the same size as Chicago.

1. Chicago 2.7 million, 500 homicides in 2012.

2. Indianapolis 830,000, 112 homicides in 2012. Indianapolis at 2.7 million would have 364 homicides
3. Baltimore 620,000 215 homicides in 2012. Baltimore at 2.7 million would have 936 homicides
4. Boston 630,000 52 homicides in 2012. Boston at 2.7 million would have 224 homicides.
5. Atlanta 430,000 85 homicides in 2012. Atlanta at 2.7 million would have 531 homicides.
6. New Orleans 352,000 193 homicides in 2012. New Orleans at 2.7 million would have 1,444 homicides.
7. Cleveland 395,000 97 homicides in 2012. Cleveland at 2.7 million would have 665 homicides.
8. Detroit 707,000 411 homicides in 2012. Detroit at 2.7 million would have 1,572 homicides.
9. Houston 2.1 million 216 homicides in 2012. Houston at 2.7 million would have 273 homicides.
10. Dallas 1.1 million 152 homicides in 2012. Dallas at 2.7 million would have 336 homicides.
11. Memphis 650,000 157 homicides in 2012. Memphis at 2.7 million would have 650 homicides.
12. Jackson Mississippi 176,000 66 homicides in 2012. Jackson at 2.7 million would have 1,012 homicides.

Do you see the correlation? Some other cities are far worse, while some other cities right about even with Chicago. Why all the hate on Chicago? Because it's a democratic bastion? Because Obama worked there?

Well, Obama is from here, Chicago's tough gun laws (Although New York actually has tougher gun laws), black on black violence as well as Hispanic violence (which many republicans believe is linked to Mexico's Drug Violence and illegal immigration) and although Detroit has a higher murder rate, Obama is not from there and they're bashing Detroit just as bad because of the recent bankruptcy, its a strong union city, the bail-out of GM & Chrysler by the Obama Administration, and local political corruption. Not to mention both cities have been strong Democratic cities for decades.

[lastonestanding]

Originally Posted by Atlanta_BD

When I visited Chicago earlier this month, I talked to some old friends and even my father and it wasn't until then that I heard a lot of talk about the violence from Chicagoans. They definitely complained about it, but I can also say that those who complained or even talked about leaving the city or the state altogether lived in not-so-great areas on the South Side. It's like some of them feel like they can't move from the South Side.

While we shouldn't sweep the problems under the rug, I think not living on the South Side or in close proximity to where the violence takes place paints one's perception of the city. If you've lived your whole life on the South Side witnessing violence, you are going to think Chicago is the problem. You go to other areas of the city and it's a completely different world.

This is so true. I live on the South Side (well actually we call it the East Side because its East of the Dan Ryan). I stay right off 79th in one of the cities most dangerous areas (a few blocks from a neighborhood known as Terror Town). I have friends who live in the suburbs and they refuse to visit me. When I would meet up with them somewhere to hang out and need a ride home, they would either refuse to drive past Stony Island and take a detour to my house or just drop me off at the Red line and say call me when you get home. I usually don't mind because I'm used to it and I completely understand.

I recently took a trip to Los Angeles to meet up with someone who needed my production services. He had a friend who lived in the Jordan Downs Housing Projects in Watts. When I went there, they told everyone I lived in Chicago and the reaction I got was like "wow we've been hearing about your city, it sounds similar to what we had to deal with in the 80s and 90s." On top of that they knew about parts of the city I had no idea anyone outside of Chicago would even know about. Elsewhere in LA I got the same questions 'What the heck is going on in Chicago???"

As far as the rest of us, its like we don't talk about it because its not nothing new. We're pretty much used to it. We know where to go, where not to go, what to do, what not to do, etc. Violence is so common in our community to the point where anything else is unnatural. I don't wear baseball caps, I don't stand near people at a bus stop, when someone is walking up to me I don't turn around to see who's coming I automatically cross the street to see if they're gonna follow me. Basically I grow eyes in the back of my head. I shoot videos and plenty of times I've had to edit my videos on the floor.

While everyone else is talking about racial profiling because of the Trayvon Martin incident, most of us aren't talking about it because we're used to it. Police pull us over all the time while walking down the street during their stop and frisk moments. After they get done checking us for narcotics and find nothing, we go on to our destination like nothing happened. Its business as usual. I hide my video camera in grocery bags whenever I leave the house. Even then I have to make it seem light because people around here do get mugged for their groceries especially if someone knows they have a link card. Everyone knows why the violence is as high as it is in Chicago, but many of them is like what else is new no one listens to us in the first place. Most of the residents over here know this kind of lifestyle well to often. They have to live there and deal with the cards they're dealt. Practically everyone on my block has at least two jobs and its still not enough to move. It is what it is, Welcome to Chicago. Life on the nine. Yall talk about it, we gotta live through it.

[Vansdad]

Mainly ignorance because most homicides are confined to certain areas and not representative of the entire city as a whole. Most areas are very safe in fact. Chicago is a great city IMHO.

[mas23]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Except the overall crime rate of Chicago, including homicides, has been decreasing for the last 20 years. The rate is pretty much half of what it was say 20-25 years ago. Most neighborhoods, not all, for pretty much all crime categories have been decreasing too.

And population decrease is not necessarily a bad thing, although the population in the last few years is actually slightly increasing again.

population decrease is never a good thing unless a place is overcrowded

[Dennis Brown]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Except the overall crime rate of Chicago, including homicides, has been decreasing for the last 20 years. The rate is pretty much half of what it was say 20-25 years ago. Most neighborhoods, not all, for pretty much all crime categories have been decreasing too.

And population decrease is not necessarily a bad thing, although the population in the last few years is actually slightly increasing again.

If that's the case maybe we should look at the crime problem as a "work in progress" if we're talking about a roughly 50% decrease from its high points. Hopefully the overall trend can continue, if it can happen to previously high murder neighborhoods in NYC (and not the ones being over ran by gentrification) like East New York for example going from a 120-130 homicides a year to 20-30 it can happen out here as well. Best of luck Chi-Town peoples...

[cali3448893]

Originally Posted by mas23

obama and chief keef

Chief Keef does not help chicago image, every time I go on Facebook I see chief keef got arrested again for doing something crazy.