Spiraling Violence in Chicago: Causes and Solutions - Imprimis
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50th ANNIVERSARY
Over 6,200,000 Readers February 2022 | Volume 51, Number 2
Spiraling Violence in Chicago:
Causes and Solutions
Matt Rosenberg
Author, What Next, Chicago?
The following is adapted from a lecture delivered on February 28, 2022, at the Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center
for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship on Hillsdale’s Washington, D.C. campus, as part of the AWC
Family Foundation Lecture Series.
FOR SEVERAL years prior to 2020, violent crime in America’s major cities was on
the decline. But since the riots that summer following the death of George Floyd, it
is heading in the opposite direction.
Murders nationwide in 2020 rose a stunning 29.4 percent over the previous year,
the largest annual increase since the FBI began tracking that data in the 1960s. The
number of murders in Chicago climbed even more sharply, rising 55 percent. It was
as if a switch had been flipped. At least ten major U.S. cities hit new murder highs
in 2021, but Chicago led the way with 797, the city’s highest number in 25 years.
MATT ROSENBERG is a journalist, author, and former Yellow Cab
driver in Chicago, where he lived for 30 years. He has worked for numerous
publications, including the Seattle Times as an op-ed columnist and the
Chicago-Sun Times, where he worked on the Pulitzer-finalist Mirage Tavern
investigation. A former senior fellow at the Cascadia Center, he has written
for numerous publications, including The Open Standard, City Journal,
National Review, Jewish World Review, American Greatness, the Chicago Tribune, and the Denver
Post. He is the author of the recent book, What Next, Chicago? Notes of a Pissed-Off Native Son.
A PUBLICATION OF HILLSDALE COLLEGEHILLSDALE COLLEGE: PURSUING TRUTH • DEFENDING LIBERT Y SINCE 1844
Chicago’s violent crime epidemic is graduating from Excel Academy on
not limited to murder. The city’s 3,561 the South Side, where he’d been voted
shooting incidents in 2021 were up 63 homecoming king. He had saved up
percent over 2019. Expressway shoot- to buy a new Chevy Equinox and was
ings in Chicago-Cook County rose behind the wheel when he was carjacked
even more dramatically, from 51 in 2019 last November. He surrendered the vehi-
to 130 in 2020 to 273 in 2021. These cle and tried to run away but was shot
expressway shootings pushed Chicago’s dead in the back. The SUV was found
actual 2021 murder total north of 800. abandoned shortly afterward.
Expressway killings aren’t counted Gangs have stoked the carnage with
in the official city numbers because a sub-genre of hip hop music called
expressways are under state jurisdiction. “Chicago Drill.” Rival gangs call each
But try telling that to Chicagoans. “It’s other out in Chicago Drill raps, and bul-
almost like a modern, 21st century form lets often fly as a result. Chicago’s gang
of dueling,” said Illinois State Police world used to be dominated by a small
Director Brendan Kelly. “[People get handful of gang leaders, and homicides
into fights with] each other on social were usually tied to drugs and territorial
media, they threaten one another and conflicts. But as the federal government
they say…‘Let’s take this out to the took down the older generation of lead-
expressway.’” ers, gangs fractured and multiplied on a
One of Chicago’s expressway murder block-by-block level. Today’s gangs are
victims was a dearly loved wife, mother, run by young knuckleheads who throw
grandmother, and special education down angry words on little screens and
teacher named Denise Huguelet. Sixty- use shooters who in some cases have
seven years old, she was being driven barely reached puberty and struggle to
home from a White Sox game last hold and aim their weapons.
summer when she became collateral The fact that violent crime increas-
damage in a shootout on the Dan Ryan ingly leads to the deaths of innocent
Expressway. citizens is a major reason for the exodus
Then there are the carjackings, 1,836 of Chicago’s black population, down
of them in Chicago in 2021—a 204 per- one-third since 1980. It also explains
cent increase over 2019. One victim was why increasing numbers from the sur-
a Democratic state senator. Her husband rounding suburbs—and tourists in gen-
had a gun and returned fire. In another eral—are shunning the city.
incident, a Cook County judge had to
pull her three-year-old son to safety ***
before the carjackers drove off.
Will McGee was 18 and looking So there’s violent crime aplenty in
forward to joining the military after Chicago. But punishment? Not so much.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported
−´
(im-pri-mis), [Latin]: in the first place
that in 2020, police made carjacking
arrests in only eleven percent of cases.
EDITOR ART DIRECTOR And Cook County prosecutors working
Douglas A. Jeffrey Shanna Cote
for State’s Attorney Kim Foxx approved
DEPUTY EDITORS PRODUCTION MANAGER
Matthew D. Bell Lucinda Grimm
felony charges in less than half of that
Timothy W. Caspar STAFF ASSISTANTS
eleven percent.
Samantha Strayer Lacey George Chicago reported a 53 percent rate
Markie Repp
of “clearing” or solving murders in
Copyright © 2022 Hillsdale College. The opinions expressed 2019. But that number was inflated. A
in Imprimis are not necessarily the views of Hillsdale College. misguiding technical term was applied
Permission to reprint in whole or in part is hereby granted,
provided the following credit line is used: “Reprinted by to nearly six in ten “cleared” murders:
permission from Imprimis, a publication of Hillsdale College.”
ISSN 0277-8432
2FEBRUARY 2022 • VOLUME 51, NUMBER 2
“cleared, closed exceptionally.” The home invasion and kidnapping.
term “closed exceptionally” means that Another was out on bail before trial for
a murder has been declared solved, stolen vehicle possession and aggra-
but without the filing of criminal vated unlawful use of a weapon.
charges—usually because prosecutors In January of this year, eight-year-
decide police evidence is insufficient. old Melissa Ortega was shopping with
Too many Chicagoans are dead due her mother on 26th Street, the main
in part to a broken criminal justice drag of Chicago’s Little Village neigh-
system. borhood. She was shot and killed in a
Denny Zheng was 24. He’d recently gang-related shooting gone awry. The
completed a master’s degree in statis- charged suspect was a 16-year-old on
tics at the University of Chicago. Last probation for three armed carjackings
November, as he walked near the cam- within the previous year.
pus in Hyde Park, he was robbed of his Easy probation has become a
laptop computer and cell phone, then license to kill. Why won’t judges prop-
shot dead. The charged suspect was 18 erly assess risk, even in juvenile cases?
years old and on probation for aggra- The answer is all too clear: criminal
vated carjacking and armed robbery. justice has morphed into what advo-
Before his arrest, he sold the laptop and
cates on the bench and in prosecutors’
phone for $100. offices describe as “social justice.” But
where is the justice
for the victims and
EASY PROBATION HAS BECOME A LICENSE TO KILL. their families? The
WHY WON’T JUDGES PROPERLY ASSESS RISK, EVEN rush to empty out jails
IN JUVENILE CASES? THE ANSWER IS ALL TOO CLEAR: and prisons is costing
CRIMINAL JUSTICE HAS MORPHED INTO WHAT lives.
ADVOCATES ON THE BENCH AND IN PROSECUTORS’ The movement for
OFFICES DESCRIBE AS “SOCIAL JUSTICE.” BUT bail reform only com-
WHERE IS THE JUSTICE FOR THE VICTIMS AND THEIR pounds the problem.
FAMILIES? THE RUSH TO EMPTY OUT JAILS AND Since 2017, under Cook
PRISONS IS COSTING LIVES. County Chief Judge
Timothy Evans’ direc-
tion, suspects charged
Ella French was 29 and a Chicago with felony gun violations and overtly
police officer. She was killed during a violent felonies are often released on
traffic stop last August. The charged low-cash or no-cash bail.
suspect was on probation for felony Evans has repeatedly argued that
robbery. only a small percentage of released fel-
In July, 73-year-old Keith Cooper, ony suspects have been charged again
a grandfather and a veteran, died of a before trial. But he has not always been
heart attack after being punched in the trustworthy in his use of data. In 2020,
head during an attempted carjacking he released a report claiming there was
in Hyde Park. The charged suspect, by no significant increase in crime after
then an 18-year-old adult, had been on bail reform was enacted in Chicago.
probation for juvenile carjacking. Only 147 felony defendants released
In December 2020, retired Chicago before trial on low-cash or no-cash bail
firefighter Dwain Williams, 65, was within the previous year and a quarter,
slain during a carjacking attempt by he asserted, had been charged with
a group of young men. One had five new felony offenses. But the actual
juvenile convictions and four pend- number was at least four times higher
ing cases, including one for an alleged than that according to a Chicago
3HILLSDALE COLLEGE: PURSUING TRUTH • DEFENDING LIBERT Y SINCE 1844
Tribune analysis, which it was able to go hand-in-hand with stronger politi-
complete only after winning a public cal support for the police. Residents
records appeal to the Illinois Supreme of black neighborhoods say they want
Court. Evans’ office had failed to count better police and more of them—and
at least six different felony crime cat- contrary to what too many Chicago
egories as felonies. politicians seem to believe, improved
police accountability isn’t incompatible
*** with supporting police in their efforts
to make the streets safer.
What can be done to address Chi- One way to improve policing is
cago’s violent crime epidemic? Here are by returning to regular foot patrols
some ideas for legal reform suggested in high-crime districts. In February
by the cases cited above: 2013, under Mayor Rahm Emanuel and
• Reapportion the county bud- Police Chief Garry McCarthy, Chicago
get to build and operate more launched a foot patrol program called
courtrooms with more judges Operation Impact in the city’s 20 high-
for speedier trials. est-crime hot zones. After 14 months,
• Stop releasing people charged murders in those zones dropped by
with violent felony crimes— almost half, shootings by 43 percent,
including juveniles charged and overall crime by 25 percent. Police
with armed carjacking—on said targeted gang and narcotics inter-
low-cash or no-cash bail. ventions may also have helped.
• Repeal state legislation that will But Operation Impact didn’t last.
outlaw most cash bail by 2023. Today such a program might require
• Repeal the 2016 statute that three or four cops to walk a beat
severely restricts the ability of together, with back-up in nearby cars.
county prosecutors to charge This in turn would require more police
juveniles with felony armed funding, not defunding, and real sup-
vehicular hijacking. port for the police by Chicago’s mayor
and city council.
Chicago politicians,
IT’S TIME TO STOP MAKING EXCUSES FOR WHAT like city politicians
ONE BRAVE CHICAGO ALDERMAN, RAY LOPEZ, HAS elsewhere, too often
CALLED “THE BORDERLINE COLLAPSE OF THE FAMILY blame “gun violence”
UNIT IN MANY OF OUR NEIGHBORHOODS” AND THE for the city’s murder
EFFECTS OF “GENERATIONAL GANG LIFE.” POLITICAL epidemic, as if guns
LEADERS NEED TO STOP WALKING ON EGGSHELLS shoot themselves. Chi-
WHEN IT COMES TO TALKING ABOUT THE BREAKDOWN cago police, to their
OF THE NUCLEAR FAMILY IN LOW-INCOME BLACK credit, took more than
COMMUNITIES. YOUNG MEN NEED FATHERS—WITHOUT 12,000 illegal guns
FATHERS THEY FLOUNDER. off the streets in 2021
alone. But the supply
is endless, and now
Unfortunately, the last two recom- includes “ghost guns”—guns without
mendations would require action by serial numbers made from mail-order
the Illinois Legislature, which has been parts. The vast majority of Chicago
under one-party (Democratic) rule residents are law-abiding, and they
for decades and has shown no serious should be able to defend themselves
interest in stopping crime. with legally obtained firearms.
Chicago should also employ smarter In addition to legal reforms and im-
policing tactics, which would need to proved policing, it’s time to stop making
4FEBRUARY 2022 • VOLUME 51, NUMBER 2
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excuses for what one brave Chicago figure rose from 45 to 55 percent during
alderman, Ray Lopez, has called “the that period, while for whites and Asians
borderline collapse of the family unit the numbers were dramatically lower.
in many of our neighborhoods” and More broken homes are directly cor-
the effects of “generational gang life.” related with more violent crime. Annual
Political leaders need to stop walking on Chicago Police Department reports
eggshells when it comes to talking about show that the neighborhoods with
the breakdown of the nuclear family in the highest murder rates are the same
low-income black communities. Young neighborhoods in which births to single
men need fathers—without fathers they mothers are highest. Among children
flounder. raised in households headed by two bio-
According to City of Chicago data, in logical parents, regardless of race, stud-
every year from 1999 to 2009, more than ies find greater educational attainment,
80 percent of all black women who gave higher adult income, and lower rates of
birth were single. Among Latinos, that incarceration.
5HILLSDALE COLLEGE: PURSUING TRUTH • DEFENDING LIBERT Y SINCE 1844
Failing public schools also con- ***
tribute to Chicago’s violent crime
crisis. Fewer than two out of ten black Another means of curtailing
fourth- and eighth-graders achieve the violence in Chicago is through pov-
“proficient” level in reading and math erty remediation and neighborhood
on the National Assessment of Edu- economic development—which
cational Progress. High school SAT doesn’t simply mean government
results are equally dismal. dispensations.
A bright spot worth mentioning In Woodlawn, at 63rd and Martin
is the achievements being made by Luther King Jr., is a fast-food dive
public charter schools. A University of where men step up to passing cars and
Chicago study found that students at collect cash in return for drugs. Walk-
public charter high schools had better ing south on MLK, I passed a woman
attendance and test scores than those with a thousand-yard glassy-eyed stare.
at non-charter public high schools. Other pedestrians were loping around
More was required of them to advance in little circles, looking lost.
to the next grade and to graduate. Investment in such neighborhoods
Teachers reported a higher level of is a wager, and no one likes long odds.
trust and collaboration with their col- But just down the street on MLK,
leagues and a greater willingness to Pastor Corey Brooks is placing his
innovate. Classes were more academi- bet. Brooks heads New Beginnings
cally demanding. Church and its non-profit arm, Project
H.O.O.D., which offers
parenting classes,
POLITICAL CHANGE IS ESSENTIAL. TWO-THIRDS remote learning co-
OF REGISTERED VOTERS FAIL TO VOTE IN LOCAL ops, online financial
ELECTIONS. THE MAIN GROUP THAT DOES VOTE education lessons, and
CONSISTENTLY IS A GROUP THAT BENEFITS GREATLY a popular construc-
FROM THE STATUS QUO: PUBLIC EMPLOYEE UNION tion industry training
MEMBERS. VOTING IS SUPPRESSED BY THE FACT THAT program. Eighteen
LOCAL ELECTIONS ARE HELD IN ODD YEARS DURING black female electri-
COLD WINTER MONTHS, BUT UNTIL THE MAJORITY cians graduated from
OF CITIZENS—WHO ARE BEING SERIOUSLY HARMED a certification course
BY THE STATUS QUO—SEIZES CONTROL OF THEIR OWN last summer. Brooks is
DESTINY, LITTLE WILL CHANGE. in the midst of raising
millions of dollars for
a state-of-the-art com-
Sadly, however, the Chicago Teach- munity center equipped for career and
ers Union has used its broad powers to technical training.
strike—powers granted by state law- Trade skills are important, but so is
makers—to restrict competition, insist- meeting workplace expectations. On
ing on a charter school growth cap Halloween in 2020, Brooks’ church
in their last two contracts. When the organized a Harvest Party for parents
current cap expires in 2024, it should and children. I came across Brooks
not be renewed by Chicago’s mayor and there counseling an agitated young
school board. man who was in the Project H.O.O.D.
What Chicago ultimately needs are construction training program. The
school vouchers, which must be enacted man was upset because his Latino
by state legislation—an unlikely pros- job site supervisor confronted him
pect—or by a voter-approved constitu- about being late to work and not fill-
tional amendment. ing out timecards. It was a heated
6FEBRUARY 2022 • VOLUME 51, NUMBER 2
conversation, but Brooks held his city’s registered voters fail to vote in
ground, telling the young man that to local elections. The main group that
keep a good construction job you’ve got does vote consistently is a group that
to be on time and do what the boss says. benefits greatly from the status quo:
He also told him he’d better get used to public employee union members. Voting
Latinos, because they’re skilled in the is suppressed by the fact that local elec-
building trades. tions are held in odd years during cold
winter months, but until the majority of
*** citizens—who are being harmed by the
status quo—seizes control of their own
In November 2020, I visited Chi- destiny, little will change.
cago’s Roseland district, southeast of Change at the family and individual
Woodlawn. The same Michigan Avenue levels is equally essential. Malik Tiger
that’s home to the Magnificent Mile made such a change, and in doing so
shopping district downtown looks a lot came to understand the true meaning of
different on the city’s South Side. Much self-determination. He grew up in Rose-
of it looks like a war-torn city in Syria. land, and his father served ten years in
Dutch settlers in the 1840s referred jail. By age 17, Malik was charged in his
to Roseland as High Prairie. In the 1850s first gun case, and a spiraling pattern of
it became an important stop on the crime, gunshot wounds, and jail time
Underground Railroad for slaves escap- followed. Then he decided he had had
ing to freedom in Canada. As recently enough.
as the early 1970s, Michigan Ave. in “I feel like at the end of the day,
Roseland was a robust marketplace with change has to come from within. You
distinctive architecture. Subsequently, have to get tired,” Malik said. “You have
however, as gang violence increased, the to look at yourself in the mirror and be
area came to be known as the Wild One disgusted with who you are.” Through a
Hundreds. During my visit, nearly every violence prevention program, he turned
building on Michigan Ave. was trashed things around and landed a job at the
or empty. Greater Chicago Food Depository.
Antoine Dobine lives in neighbor- “I just had a newborn son,” Malik
ing West Pullman. Interviewed by NBC said. “I have my own apartment. I’m
News, he recalled that Roseland was doing good for myself.” Bumping into
the judge who sentenced him in 2013
a beautiful area in the 70s. It was on juvenile gun charges, he received
like a family atmosphere. But . . . encouragement for the changes he’d
a lot of families left, and a lot of made. “The judge looked at me as an
families moved in and didn’t have individual, as a strong black man who
those same values. . . . We need all was trying to go forward and trying to
these parents who got these gun do the right thing to take care of his
toters and gangbangers on their family.”
couches . . . to say, “Hey, child, get The Left today has badly misappro-
out of my house and put that gun priated the word “equity,” using it to
down.” . . . I know there’s people mean equality of outcome—something
living in these homes that’s sick to be achieved through affirmative
and tired of things going on like action and economic redistribution.
I’m sick and tired, [but they] But real equity, in the old sense, can-
won’t . . . speak up. not be given. Real equity requires the
old fashioned virtues. It is inextricable
Political change in Chicago is essen- from full ownership of your own course
tial. Year after year, two-thirds of the in life.
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