'Chicago had 797 homicides last year, according to city police—the most of any city in the United States and the most in Chicago for a quarter century. That figure doesn’t include the increased number of homicides on expressways, which fall under the jurisdiction of the Illinois State Police. Including those numbers brings the count to at least 800.
Homicides are only the tip of the spear of Chicago’s crime wave. More than 4,000 people have been shot—about 70 percent more than two years ago. The city’s homicide figures would surely be much higher if not for advances in medicine that prevent more people from dying from shootings. Carjackings and robberies are on the rise as well.
...Chicago’s crime explosion has many causes, of course, but an important one is dreadful political leadership. Never in its history has Chicago had such a feckless trio in charge of public safety: Cook County state’s attorney Kim Foxx, Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker, and Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot.
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