Democrat-led Chicago earned the disturbing title of America’s murder capital for the 12th year running in 2023 — as homicides have surged almost 50% from a decade ago, according to troubling data.
At least 617 people were murdered across Chicago — where the Democratic National Convention kicks off Monday — in 2023, compared to 416 killed 10 years ago in 2013, recent statistics from the research group Wirepoints.org found.
That kill count put Chicago ahead of every city in the country for the 12th year in a row — beating out Philadelphia’s 408 murders last year, and New York City’s 386 homicides.
The Big Apple’s population is approximately three times larger than Chicago’s, but the city had about 40% fewer murders last year.
The number of homicides in Chicago did decline by about 13% from 2022 – fitting a national trend of year-on-year drops following a pandemic spike. However, the bloody tally still is 24% up from 2019, before COVID-19 ravaged cities across the US, Wirepoints found.
Violent crime, including assault, battery, violent robbery, and sexual assault, also collectively rose in the Windy City by 11.5% in 2023 — making it the city’s most violent year in a decade with an 18% increase since 2013, an analysis from the Illinois Policy Institute (IPI) found.
Concerningly, arrest rates did not follow the crime increase. Out of nearly 30,000 violent crimes reported in Chicago in 2023, there were just over 3,000 arrests — a 33% drop in the arrest rate compared to a decade ago, according to IPI findings which looked at official City of Chicago data.
Many have blamed Illinois’ George Soros-backed, progressive State Attorney for Cook County, Kimberly Foxx, for the criminal chaos that’s consumed the city.
Since she took office in 2016, Foxx has increased the burden of proof required to hold criminals until their trial – resulting in sometimes violent offenders being let back out on the streets to re-offend.
She also raised the threshold for felony theft from $300 in value to $1,000, enabling crimes like shoplifting and robberies to soar as offenders face little recourse.
Numerous lawmakers and law enforcement officials have spoken out against Foxx’s policies over the years – including Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Jim Murphy.
Murphy directly blamed her policies for his decision to retire after 25 years in 2022.
The embattled Foxx, meanwhile, has said she does not plan to run for re-electon in 2024.
While some crime areas like residential burglary and drug offenses have returned to or dipped below pre-pandemic levels, several other major crimes in Chicago are still elevated.
Gun assaults have increased nearly two-fold, with 735 reported as of June 2024, compared to 480 during the same period in 2019, the Council on Criminal Justice’s Mid-Year Crime Report found.
Motor vehicle theft has increased by an astonishing 160% compared to 2019 — with 2,013 incidents reported as of June 2024. There were 773 reports of motor vehicle theft in the first six months of pre-pandemic 2019.
Shoplifting numbers dipped during the pandemic when stores were closed, but have steadily returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Larceny is down from before the pandemic but has been trending upwards each year.
