Posted in Uncategorized
The city of Chicago is a great place to live. There are endless things to do from bars, restaurants, museums, sports, etc. The city has such a vast culture. Unfortunately, part of that culture is the history of gun violence. Even today in 2020, Chicago is one of the deadliest cities in the United States. This year alone, the homicide rate has gone up 39% from 2019. This is not just a modern day problem that can often require the need for a personal injury lawyer in Kansas City, like from Royce Injury Attorneys.
Unfortunately, Chicago has always had a dark past when it comes to gun violence. Stemming from gangs in the 1920’s that ran the streets all the way to present day. Even though the city is relatively safe to live in, Chicago just can not seem to escape from the gun violence that ever remains an issue.
Chicago has a vast history of gang violence. However, it really started in the late 19th century when Polish, Irish, and Italian immigrants migrated to the city and began to create ethic divisions. The constant violence led to more gangs being created. Chicago quickly became one of the most gang populated cities in America. There was a lot of tension between the citizens and the gangs, while the city suffered with its increased amount of homicides.
The homicide rate increased dramatically during the mid 20th century when racial tensions rose during the civil rights movement. During this time, discriminatory housing policies uprooted African American families into undesirable areas. Drugs, increased gang violence, and easy access to firearms caused the homicide rate to grow even higher. Increased unemployment also led people to take drastic measures and placed more people into criminal situations.
During the 1970s, gun violence became even worse in the city. “Super gangs” started creating a looming presence in the city causing more homicides to come from gang violence. In 1974, the police recorded 970 murders marking it the deadliest year for the city. As more young people joined gangs, the more homicides became prevalent. In later years, crack cocaine and drug trafficking in general led to another major spike in homicides with 920 being recorded in 1992.
Even today, the violence is still looming over the city. In 2018, there were 570 homicides recorded in Chicago. 414 of those were due to gun violence. Even today in 2020, Chicago seems as if it can not escape the gun violence going on. Every weekend there are a ton of shootings leading to more deaths.
It is possible that being in quarantine for so long, people are taking that bad energy out on others. It is also possible that the death of George Floyd and the protests and civil unrest have also led to more shootings as well. It is unclear. It is clear, however, that the city of Chicago has always struggled with violence and does not appear to be slowing down anytime soon. Hopefully sometime in the near future, there will be a large decrease in the homicide rate and Chicago’s violent tendencies in general making the city a safer place to live.