File Photo
File Photo
The Chicago Police Department released crime figures today showing homicides skyrocketed in the city during 2020.
In total, 762 people have had their cause of death designated as ‘homicide' in Chicago this year. In comparison, Chicago recorded 491 homicides in 2019. That is a 55 percent jump in the homicide rate in only one year.
Experts have blamed the huge increase in homicides on a double whammy of rioting in the streets and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The vast majority of murders go unsolved in the city. In 2016 the Chicago Police Department only cleared 21 percent of murder cases.
Detroit, New York and Philadelphia all saw similar increases in homicide rates.
School has been largely out across the state and businesses shuttered.
A police spokesperson said the homicide rate was likely connected to those stressors of regular life being disrupted and communities finding themselves without a whole lot to do except get into trouble.
“You take away the businesses, all the pieces of society that generally have eyes out, and you are left with young people, and a lot of young people, who don’t have resources or that level of support if they are left on their own,” Sgt. Jermaine Harris in the CPD’s community policing division told the Chicago Tribune.
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