Chicago, Illinois. It’s an amazing city with beautiful sites to see and interesting history. Yet, who knew that Chicago is considered the Murder Capital of America. Yes, it’s true, according to Time magazine, “The murder rate in the U.S. is projected to rise by about 13% this year, but almost half of that increase is due to violence in just one city-Chicago.” That was only at the beginning of the year and these murders have been happening since the 1800s. Now we are near the end of 2016 and the murders never stopped. As a matter of fact the longest Chicago has gone without murder is 5 days.
Why does this happen?
Well Jens Ludwig, the director of Crime Lab at the University of Chicago says “Chicago’s Police Department, overwhelmed, can respond only to the most serious problems, leaving citizens to feel responsible for their own security.” What he means by this is that the citizens of Chicago feel like they’re on their own.
since officers are not handling all of the cases that obviously means that there are not enough of them to help others.
Who's responsible for Chicago's history of murder?
It’s no surprise to anyone that there are tons of gangs and mobsters running about in Chicago. You never know who's in a gang until it's too late. However, it’s not only gangs that are the problem. There are some people who think crime is the solution to their problem (such as a breakup, loss of money, etc.) These men and women are like lost dogs trying to find their way in the world but, if you get in their way they’re way then they are bound to pounce. Then there are just crazy people such as H.H. Holmes who is known as America's first serial killer.
He was known for his crimes against humanity and his home the “Murder Castle”. H.H. Holmes was a notorious con man so he bought a pharmacy under a fake ID and decided it would be a good idea to lure his victims into the pharmacy (that he made into a giant death trap) and killed them. He was then captured and executed in 1896 (death by hanging).
Then there was the king of gangs Al Capone. He was a child from Italian culture and grew up to become the infamous leader of the Chicago Mafia. He was best known for illegally selling liquor during the prohibition. People even considered Al as a Robin Hood. He is most known for the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre where he killed the men of Moran McGurn a rival gangster.
Although, Capone met his fatal end in 1947 and Holmes in 1896 many people actually look up to them because they think they were cool or made easy money. That ends up creating a person who will kill in the near future. All of these gangsters and other criminals are all poisoning this city with so much violence.
Is there any hope?
It seems like as though there is no hope for anyone in Chicago. Tio Hardiman wrote an article for the Huffington Post and he said “In order to stop a killing, one must have a relationship with a would-be shooter in which that person will listen to reason before taking a life.” This would be extremely difficult and would take a lot of effort. The person would need to realize that their friend/family member/ or partner will take someone's life. Most people don't realize this until it is too late. Then someone is taken from their family and can never be brought back. This is a serious issue and there needs to be a better way to take care of this.
However, in most of the cases in Chicago the murders were school drop-outs, drug addicts, or had mental disabilities. These are things that people can treat such as making sure students stay in school and get a good job, find drug dealers in Chicago and destroy their stash of whatever drug they deal, and giving people with mental disabilities proper treatment and care. So in a way there is plenty of hope for Chicago we just need to use it to our advantage. The number of cops are increasing and the speed of responding to 911 calls are increasing.
