Chicago has one of the highest rates of gun-related homicides in the country. In just one weekend, 58 people were shot and nine died from gun attacks.
The Chicago Sun-Times has a homicide database that collects information from law enforcement and is updated daily. The list shows 493 people were killed with various types of weapons in the city from January 1, 2022 to September 20, 2022.
Horror weekend with children present
From Friday to Sunday morning 45 people were shot, five of them fatally. By early Monday, four more had died, and the number of injured had risen to 58.
CBS News explained that there was a large increase in violence Sunday afternoon, including two concurrent incidents: "Five men were wounded and two were killed during two separate shootings Sunday that occurred just minutes apart."
Local media report that the gravity of the terror experienced this weekend - in addition to the sheer number of homicides - is due to the two children who were shot and wounded despite having no relation to the groups that committed the crimes. One three-year-old girl was in the back seat of a vehicle when someone opened fire from another car. A ten year old boy was also shot Friday night while walking down the street with his father. The minor was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the left leg.
Misguided policies in the fight against crime
The large amount of money allocated to fight crime in Chicago does not seem to be enough. By the year 2023, the City Council will have approved 53 million - and will be eligible for another $113 million in federal funds - to address the problem. However, the capital allocated to crime reduction is not the only element to be taken into account in assessing the effectiveness of public policies. The choice of exactly which programs receive these funds is also a key determinant of policy success. In the case of Chicago, these plans are under the guidance of Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who defines crime as follows:
The violence is rooted in decades of systematic racism and disinvestment in our communities. To combat all of this, we have taken innovative steps to address both the short-term and long-term consequences of violence.
Lightfoot's actionless words come at a time when the city is spiraling into a crime wave. In 2021, Chicago suffered one of its deadliest years on record. According to police data, more than 700 homicides were committed, the most since 1994. Most of the deaths and shootings were concentrated in the western and southern areas of the city, which are heavily segregated.
