The Inexorable Decline of Chicago and Illinois
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I forgot the DNC was going there for the national convention ... lol
Chicago Hit By Surging Violence From Criminals Out On Probation And Parole
One thing Chicagoans can’t help but notice when scrolling through news feeds: the number of violent crimes committed by defendants while they were out either on parole, probation or awaiting trial.
That’s not surprising given the long-term decarceration trend in Cook County that’s left the county’s jail population at the lowest level in 40 years. Cook County Chief Judge Tim Evans started a no bail/low cash bail policy in 2017, resulting in a growing number of pretrial defendants out on bond who are then charged with new crimes, as we reported here. The state’s new SAFE-T Act has taken that policy even further. In September 2023, Illinois became the first state in the country to eliminate cash bail altogether, while the law also reduced the types of crimes for which defendants could be detained before their trial.
The big question in 2024 is how will the SAFE-T Act impact crime, everything else equal. It’s still far too early to determine whether there are more violent defendants out on the streets awaiting trial and, unfortunately, the government is far behind on releasing the relevant data on that, according to a recent BGA report.
Nevertheless, Chicagoans have a right to be concerned considering just how many stories there are of released defendants committing mayhem. Many make the news every day, but it’s hard to know just how prevalent they are among the sea of other crimes committed.
That’s why we’ve compiled a short sample list of defendants – those on parole, probation or awaiting trial – who’ve been accused of committing violent crimes since the start of the new year. Our source is CWB Chicago, which does a great job of tracking and publishing the city’s daily crimes.
- January 2 – A 21-year-old man shot another man in the face while on bail for one gun case and on probation for another. According to CWB, he was the “30th person accused of shooting, killing, or trying to shoot or kill someone in Chicago in 2023 while awaiting trial for a felony.”
- January 7 – A 31-year-old man and former CVS employee robbed a CVS while on probation for robbing and burglarizing a CVS.
- January 14 – A 19-year-old gang member shot and critically injured another man in Little Village just three months after getting probation for head-butting a Chicago cop. Prosecutors also dropped a felony gun case on the day he pleaded guilty to the battery.
- January 18 – A 19-year-old man killed his girlfriend while on probation for a gun charge.
- January 27 – An 18-year-old man with gang ties gunned down an airport employee while on juvenile probation for gun possession.
- February 4 – A 56-year-old man killed ex-girlfriend while on parole for strangling his previous partner.
- February 6 – A 32-year-old man and previous 8-time felon burglarized a restaurant while on probation for burglarizing a nail salon.
- February 6 – A 16-year-old male allegedly stabbed and killed a man while on parole for attempted murder. Earlier, he was found in possession of a stolen motor vehicle while on that same parole. That case was dropped.
- February 7 – A 20 year-old man was charged with ‘brutal attack’ of a woman at Chicago Union Station after being released on similar charges under cashless bail law.
- February 12 – A 33-year-old tow truck driver with two counts of attempted murder after he opened fire on two competitors over a job, while on felony pretrial release.
- February 13 – A 19-year-old man was caught carrying three guns on CTA less than a month after being placed on “first-time weapon offender probation” for another felony gun case.
- February 14 – An 18-year-old man killed an Uber driver while on juvenile probation for robbery. He also previously served time in the juvenile justice center for carjacking in 2021.
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Some are expressing hope in the latest crime numbers for 2024 (through early-February), which show major crimes down 18% and murders down 30%. But with just a little over a month behind us, it’s premature to make any conclusions given the city is coming off of post-covid record-high crime numbers.
Major crimes in 2023 were up over by 16% over 2022 and by 55% over 2019, before covid and the George Floyd.
As mentioned above, we’re going to have to wait for new data to reach any conclusions.
But from the data we do know since the SAFE-T Act was passed – the Cook County jail population is down 15%, electronic monitoring is down 10%, and detention appeals have skyrocketed – proponents of softer crime policies are getting what they want.
And, it appears, Chicago’s criminal class is getting what they want, too.
Another Extended July 4th Weekend Of Historic Violence In Chicago: 109 Shot, 19 Fatally
In what could come close to a record-setting weekend of Chicago violence, 109 people were shot over the extended holidays since July 4th, local media reports.
"One hundred and nine people have been shot, 19 fatally, in gun violence across Chicago since Wednesday during the extended Fourth of July holiday weekend, police said," ABC7 Chicago writes. The casualty count rose throughout the day as more police and hospital data was tallied, and came across news desks.
ABC NewsChicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling and Mayor Brandon Johnson condemned the uptick in violent crime. "We have to really stop and think about the mindset of someone who will shoot a child, a helpless child an unarmed mother and think that that's okay. And go about their days," Snelling said. "Those people have to be taken off the street. They have to be put away if we're not doing that. Then we're failing other families."
The victims were teens as well as men ranging in age from 16 to 36 years old, police data indicates. The demographic strongly points to most of these being gang-related shootings.
By comparison, there were 33 people total that died from violent crime across the entire nation, thus deaths in Chicago alone made up the bulk.
July 4th and the weekend closest to it tends to be the single deadliest holiday on the calendar year in Chicago, according to past data. This year's Chicago violence is far and above that of last year's.
The 2023 extended holiday weekend went from Friday night to Tuesday, during which time 57 people were shot and eight were killed.
“When we look at what happened this weekend, we always like to say that it’s a police issue,” Snelling continued during a press conference. "This is a societal issue. The police cannot be in everybody’s backyard. They cannot be in everyone’s home. They cannot invade every single gathering where there’s a possibility that someone may show up with a gun."
For a sampling of some of the tragic weekend shootings via a local news affiliate...
- Two people were shot, one fatally at about 11:51 p.m. in the 700-block of East 89th Place.
- Minutes before that, one person was shot an killed in the 200-block of North Central Avenue in the South Austin neighborhood.
- A man died in an exchange of gunfire Saturday night in South Shore.
- A 26-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman were walking on the sidewalk when a white SUV pulled up and someone inside fired shots, police said.
- A woman, shot in her leg, was taken to the same hospital in good condition.
Mayor Johnson on Monday noted the racial aspects to the crimes: "Black death has been unfortunately accepted in this country for a very long time." He said further: "Let's tell the full story of how we got here because if you skip a chapter, it won't give us the ability to actually make the proper adjustments so that we can ensure that stronger and safer becomes a reality."
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Chicago really is Maga!
