CHICAGO'S HISTORICAL CRIMINAL REPUTATION

• Based on historical archives, Chicago became known as a haven of criminal activities even before Al Capone and the beer wars.
• The city's periodicals often feature news about incidents of "murder, rape, theft, arson," and other nefarious activities.
• The Chicago Tribune summarized the city's sentiments with this statement in 1840: " "the business of stealing horseflesh has been Reduced to a regular system."
• During the same year, the first hanging punishment was meted out.
• When the 1840s came to an end, it was observed that there is always a criminal organization running the city.
• The Democrat publication even stated that it is "getting to be a notorious fact that robbers, pickpockets, thimble-riggers, etc. are perfectly at home in our city.”
• The existence of various vices also cemented Chicago's notorious reputation.
• During the middle of the century, the city housed multiple gambling business locations that exceed the area of Philadelphia and New York on a per capita basis.
• The city's dark history further descended into chaos in the last years of the 1800s as the violence of labor conflicts hit the city.
• The Haymarket event further aggravated the city's lawless reputation.
• In the 1890s, the city's criminal nests brought about more criticisms as well as international visitors who wanted to partake of Chicago's forbidden vices.
• The 1920 murder of the vice king of the city, Jim Colosimo, started a new era in the city's history of violence.
• The violent rampage during the beer wars of 1924 to 1930 brought fame to Al Capone, Chicago's gangster poster boy.
• However, based on statistics, the city's crime statistics were not particularly high during the 1920s and 1930s.
• However, several observers noted that Chicago's crime rates are just the same as any other city in the country.
• The city's notorious reputation was just magnified due to the larger issues arising from a city that is experiencing rapid growth.

PRESENT DAY

• Since 1957 to the present, Chicago recorded around 700 homicide incidents during 27 of these years. In 19 of these years, the rate was found to be below than 500 one-third of the time.
• The number of Chicago's homicide incidents may not be the highest in the country. However, the city had more incidents compared to other US cities.
• Chicago's current crime epidemic revolves mostly on gun violence incidents
• Several factors such as racial division, wealth disparity, gangs and the police's inability to address the problem have contributed to the high homicide rates in the city.
• Homicide incidents that can be attributed to guns were observed to have decreased compared to the high statistics recorded in 2016 and 2017.
• However, 2018 has the third biggest recorded homicide volume in Chicago's 15 years of crime history.

CONSEQUENCE OF HIGH CRIME RATES IN CHICAGO

• Due to the perception of high crime rates in certain areas of Chicago, it was observed that companies are avoiding the city.
• Furthermore, the city is also exerting more effort to get existing businesses to stay in the city.
• During the 60s and the 70s, many residents and companies already left the city due to the perceived high crime rate.
• In the succeeding decades, several action steps were taken to ease the fears of crime in the city to get more people and companies to go return.
• However, any further perception of increasing crime rates in the city might turn the tide again and might drive businesses and people out of the city.