Gun Violence In Chicago

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Chicago has had its ups and downs in the cities violent history, but early 2016 to present has been an exception. Chicago increased in homicides by 59 percent in 2016 and it has only become worse since then with a 29 percent increase in just the first few months of 2017 (Asher, FiveThirtyEight.com; Ford, The Atlantic). It is obvious that something needs to be done, but so far there have not been any major changes made or drastic measures taken in order to improve Chicago’s current state of being. Right now, the three most predominant causes are Chicago’s Police, Chicago’s many gangs, and firearms, hand guns in particular. If the city wants to make any improvements whatsoever then it needs act decisively on gangs and guns, start using different …show more content…

Gangs attributes to almost 90 percent of all gun violence in Chicago (Saul, Newsweek). Because gangs attribute to such a large amount of gun violence they should be the number one priority for Chicago’s police. One such tactic that could potentially make a substantial difference in reducing the amount of murders that happen is hot spot policing. Hot spot policing is not a new tactic in any way however it has proven to be affective. Hot spot policing is a practice in which small areas with a high concentration of crime that occurs frequently is targeted and focused on more heavily then it would be under normal circumstances (Hot spot policing, National Institute of Justice). The targeted area can be just one building or an entire street or block (Hot spot policing, National Institute of Justice). The practice does require that many resources either which allows more areas to be covered more effectively (Hot spot policing, National Institute of Justice). The Chicago police department has already taken a step in the right direction by leaving one room in all 22 districts and devoting it to tracing shootings, calls for help and gathering information obtained from patrol officers (Sweeney et al, Chicago Tribune). By having these rooms pulling in data all day long they can decide exactly where they want to target on a day to day basis (Sweeney et al, Chicago …show more content…

Firearms, handguns especially, are the weapon of choice in the majority of these homicides. While Chicago does have a reputation for rather firm gun laws they are not as severe as they once were (Fessenden and Park, New York Times). Completely banning ownership of all handguns is not the way to go, however punishment for illegally owned handguns needs to be more severe. Right now, the punishment for illegally owning a handgun is a one year sentence (Fessenden and Park, New York Times). One year is not enough to scare people into not illegal possessing a handgun. If Chicago can copy New York’s illegal handgun law which carries a three-year sentence for illegal possession of a handgun then it would actually scare some people away from illegally obtaining a handgun thus reducing the amount of murders that they person may have

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