Shootings in Chicago were 32 percent higher in 2022 than they were in 2019, with 3,464 total Chicagoans suffering as victims of gun violence, according to a new analysis from the Illinois Policy Institute. The trend follows two years of the most dangerous years in Chicago in recent decades. The institute found one in every 1,000 Chicagoans was a victim of gun violence, citywide, in 2022. In the city’s safest police district, that number is one in 10,000. On average, each police district saw 39 more victims of gun violence in 2022 than 2019. The Central District – which includes the Loop, South Loop and Near South Side – recorded the largest percentage increase among any district between 2022 and 2019, with shooting incidents more than tripling and the number of gun violence victims quadrupling. “Crime in Chicago has extended outside of traditionally more violent and concentrated neighborhoods,” said Patrick Andriesen, writer at the Illinois Policy Institute. “To address growing gun violence, Chicago should support community initiatives to combat violence and invest in social services and mental health clinics,” said Paul Vallas, policy adviser at the Illinois Policy Institute. “There’s also no substitute for providing police the resources they need to keep dangerous and habitual offenders off the streets. This means filling police vacancies, providing adequate resources for judges to determine pretrial detention, and ensuring witness and victim protection programs so police are able to obtain vital information needed to identify and pursue criminal actors.” To read more about Chicago’s gun violence, illin.is/chicagoviolence. 

Photo Credit: Illinois Policy Institute