The University of Chicago’s Crime Lab released its report Gun Violence in Chicago 2016. The researchers delved into data provided by the Windy City’s PD, winkling out actionable stats. Turns out both shooters and shootees were known to the police. Who saw that one coming? And the survey SAID . . .

Around 80 percent of Chicago’s homicide victims in 2015 and 2016 had at least one prior arrest, almost 40 percent had a prior violent crime arrest, and almost 30 percent had a prior gun arrest.

Nearly 40 percent of victims had more than 10 prior arrests, while the share with more than 20 prior arrests rose from 14 to 18 percent in 2016.

The share of victims with a current or prior gang affiliation as recorded by CPD was about the same in both years (53 and 54 percent).

And now the shooters . . .

Individuals arrested for a homicide or shooting in Chicago in 2016 and 2015 had similar prior criminal records: around 90 percent had at least one prior arrest, approximately 50 percent had a prior arrest for a violent crime specifically, and almost 40 percent had a prior gun arrest.

The average person arrested for a homicide or shooting in both years had nearly 12 prior arrests, with almost 45 percent having had more than 10 prior arrests, and almost 20 percent having had more than 20 prior arrests.

Why is anyone in Chicago (or elsewhere) talking about gun control? Clearly, Chicago’s revolving door justice system is a failure that allows dangerous killers to roam the city streets.

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62 COMMENTS

  1. If you have the opportunity to arrest someone ten times, someone in the criminal justice system isn’t doing his job.

      • Well, Obama got his start as a ‘community organizer’ in Chicago.

        And there’s nothing as well organized in Chicago like the crime in the community…

    • It’s not the cops who are screwing up, it’s the prosecutors and judges who give the gang members slaps on the wrist. This has been reported before, people with pretty serious convictions will get 6 months in jail. These people would get much longer sentences in almost any other city or state.

    • Curtis in IL,

      “If you have the opportunity to arrest someone ten times, someone in the criminal justice system isn’t doing his job.”

      The people in the criminal justice system are doing a splendid job … if their job is to ensure their own employment and income stream from taxpayers.

      This is the problem. All those criminal justice system public employees actually have an incentive to NOT incarcerate (at least not for very long) criminals who murder, rape, pillage, and plunder.

      • That isn’t exactly the way it works; there is no financial incentive to let criminals get light sentences. What is really happening is that there is a massive incentive to clear cases by plea agreements and to avoid trials. The justice system is simply overwhelmed by its case load, and the prisons are overflowing. The only way to reduce the backlog is to put a deal on the table that the defendant is likely to take and that resolves the case quickly. But even that isn’t working since there are so many offenders and those released re-offend, causing a vicious cycle from which there is no apparent escape except by hiring more judges, more prosecutors, and building more prisons, none of which the tax payers or the State are willing to fund. For example, the cost of one new judge, including the associated staff, is about $1 per year, and this does not include the cost of building new courts. New prosecutors earn (I would guess) somewhere around $60K to start, and that doesn’t include secretarial support. Hell, Chicago can’t even afford to fully staff the PD, where is it going to get tens if not hundreds of millions to actually put a dent in the problem?

        • OTOH, perhaps it is as simple as; The system lets violent felons go to prey upon the citizens, who will then call for the system to have more power to control the ‘problem'(that was created by said system in the first place). It has been called “Problem, Reaction, Solution. Otherwise known as Hegelian dialectics.
          Remember Occam’s Razor, the simpler solution is always the more likely to be correct!

        • kenneth- talking to Illinois NRA members about the Hegelian dialectic is like trying to teach monkeys at Lincoln Park Zoo to speak English.

          Most of the gun hicks live in trailers around Harrisburg by state Rep. Brandon Phelps, with G.E.D. level education at most. These losers move their lips when they try to read your post. “Who’s Hegel, maw?”

          Rednecks such as Curtis actually believe that NRA lobbyist Todd Vandermyde “had to” put Duty to Inform in Phelps concealed carry bill for the anti-gun police unions, because that was “the only way” to get a “shall-issue” bill.

          Illinois does not have “shall-issue” it has thousands of citizens waiting for their licenses for over a year, because some cop objected to their application anonymously. No help from NRA, Inc. so far.

          Don’t bother educatin’ the rubes, these losers move their lips when they read, and they wouldn’t know a traitor like Vandermyde unless they were executed like Philando Castile.

  2. But they are all turning their lives around…. good kids…. din do nuffin.
    It’s all bs. The liberal machine running shitcago doesn’t care. It keeps them in power.
    My advice for all those planning on visiting shitcago is dont.

    • Ya know, I have never been arrested. Have not knowingly committed a crime. I have never drawn, pointed, or shot a gun at anyone.

      Also, I have never been killed. Just sayin’.

  4. You be surprised how many times the AG has plea bargain down a criminal of a gun crime to “Using an imitation of a gun during the commission of the crime” when a real gun has been used. It up to their discretion to do so, and as such, has caused the RPM of the revolving door system of Chicago to increase like a shot of nitrous. What’s worse is the politician know this, and encourage it as they and the prosecutors are worried too much about their careers because god forbid progressive groups find out your prosecution rate of black males is skyhigh; they would call you a bigot and try force you out. If the moderate Democrats don’t band together to oust these radical progressive fascist from their group, classic liberals will become extinct and true hell across the aisle will become the norm. Conservative may have never agree on certain thing with the old school Democrats, but it is in their and America’s best interest to help the remaining moderates regain control of their party. I can’t believe the day has arrived when progressive can openly compare Oscar Lopez-Riveria to the founding fathers as revolutionaries without major backlash from the country. In 5 years, they get away with comparing George Washington to Osama Bin Laden if we don’t work together to expose thes radicals for what they are.

    • “If the moderate Democrats don’t band together to oust these radical progressive fascist from their group, classic liberals will become extinct and true hell across the aisle will become the norm.”

      For the most part, the closest thing out there to classical liberals nowadays is this new ‘flavor’ of conservatism that starts to spread its wings for a test flight at noon Friday.

      Check out this *very* interesting article on how it’s going to be a no-brainer to fully fund the southern border wall and Mexico absolutely *will* be paying for it, and there isn’t a damn thing Mexico or the Progressives can do about it.

      It is *delicious* in its simplicity:

      https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/yes-trump-can-make-mexico-pay-for-the-border-wall-heres-how/2017/01/17/7edf7872-dcbf-11e6-ad42-f3375f271c9c_story.html?utm_term=.78ecf99b7a4f

      That Nov. 8 election was a political earthquake like none seen in the last 50+ years. Once Trump gets up to speed and actually starts *doing* the majority of what he said he was going to do, I think we will discover that we are in a new political age, a new morning in America…

      • Too bad the average person cannot understand how higher price good on imports is a good thing regardless of how it’s literally Macroeconomics 101. They don’t realize if imported goods from Mexico costs more, you won’t buy imported good. Why buy cheaper quality goods that are evenly priced with higher quality American-made goods. More goods bought from America equals more production which equals better economy. Cheaper corporate taxes insure companies increase production within America, which also equals more American jobs. This is why Mexico is very afraid right now, along with China (labeling them as a currency manipulator), Japan (high restrictions on import, who do you think China learned this from), and the EU (mainly Germany). I just hope Trump is smart enough to help increase the standard of labor in Brazil, Mexico (their citizens are ripe for an economic revolution, plus stops the surge of illegal immigation if implemented), and the developing Southeastern Asian country as these countries want to do what China has achieved with creating a race to the bottom with their poor wages and cheap labor. This is how America wins again at trade. And for the first time in history, the new Republicans have enough control of the gov’t to finally try it. Will it work? Most economist believe so, but we don’t know for sure because of greedy, old rhino Republicans and globalist Democrats have block plans like this since the 90’s.

      • Question of the day that no-one in the MSM asks. Would you prefer possibly higher prices for cell phones, cheap T-shirts, name brand clothing that falls apart, low quality small appliances, and certain out of season fruit, but with the possibility or even likelihood of production of these items coming back, and the possibility or even likelihood that this will massively reduce spending on welfare, Medicaid, unemployment, crime control, etc.; or would you prefer continued high and growing taxes, continued shoddy goods, increasing crime rates due to unemployment and underemployment, reliance on foreign countries that have been or could become enemies at the drop of a hat, and all other social deterioration that we have seen in the last decades? The answer is obvious and we will see if Trump and Congress deliver. Interesting article in the WAPO link.

  5. Gee they JUST arrested a Chicago veteran cop who murdered his neighbor. And it “only” took 16 days. HIS record was abysmal. It’s not just the gangbangers-it’s the gang in blue…

    • To funny to laugh at…To sad to cry about…I remember some independent report said recently that 40 to 50 % of S#!tCago PD is involved in corruption, and crime…So government can’t lead by example ….Sure they’ll enforce gun control ! Just NOT the typically profiled individuals…But the law abiding working public who are struggling in a “post- apocalyptic city….”

    • Its the gangs, period. Blue, black, or hoodies, a thug is a thug. The colors they choose to wear is not relevant to the damage that they do to what they perceive as the ‘outsiders’. The only ones who care about the particular color they wear, is the gangsters themselves.

  6. Speaking of revolving doors. . .

    How many recovered weapons had already been through police impound? What’s the estimate over actual?

    Just sayin, the same stew pot is what they ladle their cops out of, and that sh_t’s turned.

    Tired of the “We’re f’d up, we need to fix you” routine out of the same patch of POS that couldn’t wait to ruin our country by voting in more evil (D).

  7. Catch and release. 60 mins had a great piece on how the murder rate shot up two years ago in chicago after a policeman was charged for an on the job shooting. He said police dont go out , dont try to make arrests no more. Can you blame them? If they shoot a person of color they could goto jail for life. If they dont they might not come home to there family. Its a no win position for the guys in blue in that town, the idiots now run the assylum thanks to black lives matter.

  9. How about we have the Army add a new division, call it the “Dirt Division”, and we send people with multiple arrests there BEFORE they up their game to shooting at people? I know three former violent felons who spent eight years each in the Army and now you’d never know they were felons, and the Army didn’t even have that as a goal. Make a division dedicated to actual reform, and do even better!

    • In my estimation the rehabilitation rate for people who join the service with a record is about 75%. Some people just can’t be untucked.

      Two outta three ain’t bad so75% is damn good.

    • I think making jail more like the military would do more good than putting inmates in the military.

      Enough sh*tbags and room temp IQ’s bee-bopping around in the service as it is. At least, when I was doing back in the day.

      • Yep. Lockup is a chainlink fence in a shithole, share a shelterhalf “tent” and two wool blankets. Water and two MREs per day. 0500 Mon-Sat pack it up and carry it all day while on hard labor. 2000 set up “camp” again. Sunday start 1200 after church call (no wicken or mooooslem allowed). NO TV, college, “training”, weightrooms, bball courts or comforts. Good behavior gets you a sleep pad. Put Sheriff Joe on it.

    • Yeah, no. We have enough problems finding decent recruits much less turning the turds we get now into something resembling professional Soldiers. This is not a social engineering problem- never has been. It’s a parent problem. Parents aren’t there or they aren’t allowed to parent. Assign the blame to social workers, politics, PC culture, whatever- fact is this problem starts much earlier than military-age and by the time they get to us, unless they chose on their own to square their sh*t away, there’s not much we can do to improve them. Then we end up with turd Soldiers getting promoted to senior leadership positions because they got in good with someone higher up that is as bad as they are or who can’t see how worthless this turd is. Then, by the time their stink rises to the top they’re dug in like a tick and we cannot do enough paperwork to shitcan them, if we can even get it done at all. Thanks but no thanks.

      • “It’s a parent problem. Parents aren’t there or they aren’t allowed to parent”
        You forgot “many parents don’t have basic social skills to parent, or could care less” and instead rely upon “they” to teach the spawn how to be human.

    • If you put them all together in one place, I think you would greatly reduce the chances of reforming them.

    • You should probably go to the bottom of the page, click the “contact” button, and send an email with your suggestions for improvement, if you have any.

  12. Nothing new under the sun. Criminologists have known about this for literally over a hundred years, almost since there’s been such a thing as criminology.

  14. Chicago is getting what it wanted, good and hard. A large portion of the city supports the criminals. Let them enjoy the consequences. Besides, the more savages kill each other, the better off we all are.

  15. The solution is obvious: Disarm the law abiding citizens in other states, especially Indiana.
    Yeah, that will fix everything.

  16. Decades (generations) of social engineering (welfare, war on drugs, affirmative action, etc.) have resulted the predictable but unintended consequence of discouraging the assimilation, primarily of blacks, and other “people of color” and the poor, into the overall society. The resulting isolation gradually developed into a separate “culture”…one that conflicts with the norms, the laws, and even the comprehension of the larger American (US) society. This did not happen overnight, and it cannot be solved overnight. If we want to resolve it, we must overhaul our entire approach to social welfare, even to the point of re-defining what we mean by “welfare”. The guiding goal should be voluntary assimilation into the larger, general culture of America. This must also be applied in the context of refugees and immigrants into our country. Separate cultures cannot peacefully exist under a single set of morality and law.

    While the authority in Chicago may be especially corrupt, Chicago is not alone in the greater problem. We see this same culture in virtually every urban, inner-city community.

    • “refugees and immigrants”, and their offspring, need to go back where they came from. We GAVE them REFUGE which by definition a TEMPORARY thing. Your house guest does not get title to your house just because he won’t LEAVE.

      If we suffered their presence in the US for 5min they received a GIFT they could not possibly ever repay. Now they know how a country/civilization can/should operate. Go home and fix their homegrown hellhole. Do in it voluntarily now (by Dec 31) and you can keep/take your assets with you. If we have to find you then you forfeit your assets. And you kids are NOT citizens and go with you.

  17. But of course, none of this would be happening if only they had stronger gun safety laws. And if they could get all the other states to have stronger gun safety laws so all these evil guns stop crossing their border. Just like USVI and Puerto Rico where firearms are virtually banned and there are no adjacent states to import their weapons of war. Their homicide rates are ONLY 50 and 18 per 100k. (National Average 3.9)

  18. None of this is new, except perhaps that it’s another study reinforcing the apparent.

    “Why is anyone in Chicago (or elsewhere) talking about gun control?”

    Because Democrats do not want harsh sentencing. Democrats pander to trial lawyers. Trial lawyers do not want harsh sentencing. Democrats pander to the friends and families of gang members. They don’t want harsh sentencing either. Democrats pander to people who hate the “prison industrial complex.” Guess what? They don’t want harsh sentencing either.

    Consider D interest groups.

    • Your observations regarding the Democratic party in Illinois are accurate. On the other hand you have the trailer park whites voting for union hack Democrats like Illinois state Rep. Brandon Phelps, hero of the gun hicks and sponsor of the “NRA backed” concealed carry bill in 2013.

      NRA lobbyist Todd Vandermyde cut a deal with the anti-gun police unions to put Duty to Inform in Phelps carry bill. The ONLY Reps. who opposed DTI were Chicago area Democratic Black Caucus Reps. LaShawn Ford, Chris Welch, and Will Davis. Phelps debated Davis on the floor of the House in Springfield and claimed, “it (Duty to Inform) hasn’t been a problem in other states.)!!

      You can smell a rat when NRA’s “pro-gun” good old boy Phelps puts Duty to Inform IN his “good” “NRA backed” bill, and the people who are trying to get DTI OUT of the bill are “liberal Democrats” from Chicago. That’s because Phelps and the white racist rednecks who vote for him live in all-white small towns in southern Illinois, and they don’t care if blacks in Chicago are executed by cops like Philando Castile in Minnesota.

      Every violation of Illinois’ carry bill including the new “crime” of Duty to Inform is criminal, SIX MONTHS or ONE YEAR in jail. Phelps, Vandermyde, and NRA, Inc. are in bed with the cops, lawyers, and courts. That’s why there are criminal penalties for every violation of their carry bill, so licensed citizens can be set up, arrested, fined, jailed and killed at will by police criminals.

      Feeding gun owners into the prison-industrial complex is profitable for NRA and creates job security for backstabbing traitors like Vandermyde to “fix” the garbage bills they put up in the first place.

      Every gun owner in Illinois should be thankful for the “liberal Democrat” Black Caucus.

  19. When someone gets busted more than a couple times, I think sociology should quit and the defense of society should step in.
    Such people are just made in the wrong way, so they should be incarcerated and left there. Pretending to change them is silly and irresponsible.
    Sounds harsh, but every innocent person harmed by such an individual is a shame and a sin from the State. A betrayal of the good citizen.
    Especially in countries like here in Europe, where the State prohibits you to defend yourself, it should be him to take good care of the criminals.
    Same applies to your democratic states and cities.
    Instead, we are defenseless and the criminals are always on the road and looking for new victims.
    I hope never to be forced to defend myself or my family, but hope to be ready if that should happen.

  21. These numbers have been out there forever.

    The CPD releases an annual crime report and while they have been years behind, the 2012, 13, and 14 numbers are essentially unchanged from those earlier years.

    They *KNOW* who’s doing this stuff; they just choose not to do something about it.

  23. every convict I ever met has the same story: My Lawyer Was A Bum. nobody does crimes, everybody gets a bad lawyer.

    Chicago obviously has great lawyers,

    • Well, there wouldn’t be a problem if the thugs always succeeded in killing one another. Regrettably, as you can easily verify by looking at heyjackass.com, only about 15% of those shot in Chicago are killed. Guess who gets to pay the medical bills of the surviving 85%.

  26. The funny thing is that this all happens only in minority areas
    All our eye surgeons went to the big conference held in Chicago this year
    Several brought wives and kids along
    It was perfectly safe
    Unless you go into a bad neighborhood, tourists are safe there

    • No sir they are not! You should do some more research on “wildings” and other attacks in other so called safe areas. Your life may depend on it.

  27. “Known to the police” of one of my favorite qualifiers. It’s as commonly applicable to these thug cases, where the system has done nothing about them, “known to intelligence services” is to these terrorists among us who end up attacking, because nothing was done about them.

    Protect the citizenry. Government has basically ONE job to do and they can’t get that right. That’s why I never trust or condone expansions in either scale or scope of government power.

  28. “A growing share of firearms recovered in Chicago consists of 9mm and .40 caliber handguns, which accommodate larger-diameter ammunition than .22 caliber weapons.”

    Putting that college education to good use there.

    • Yup. In the world of tomorrow(today) it takes years of university level education in math to understand that .4 is larger than .22!
      Silly us, we all learned fractions and percentages in elementary school! What fools we must be…

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