Quote:
Originally Posted by CaliNative
I read in the paper that a much of the murders and assualts are due to fighting between Latino gangs (mostly immigrants, legal and illegal, including the infamous and violent MS gang) and African-American gangs for turf and drug selling. The Latino gangs as they grow greatly in numbers are pushing into traditional black areas, so that causes violent clashes I guess. The same black-Latino gang clashes is also occurring in other cities nationwide, including L.A., S.F., Dallas, Houston etc. Of course innocent people get caught in the crossfire. Sad. Maybe others have more info on the gang clashes, and the role in the crime increases.
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i dont think this is a fully accurate reading of the situation. there are a lot of things fueling the rise in homicides, but id say the biggest factors are
A) the splintering of gangs. Your description is a very 90's-esque sort of view. Today, Chicago gangs are hyperlocalized and in many cases are only as large as a handful of kids living on a certain block. In some cases they may pledge allegiance to a larger faction, but theres not the heavy bureaucratic top-down control. Most of the big players have been locked up, which means no ones really running the show or keeping people in check. You dont have the major wars so much anymore (i.e. bloods vs crips). Its again, smaller scale and hyper local beefs. Even kids who do not want to be in a gang are associated merely by the fact they live in a certain area. This leads into:
B) rise of social media. A lot of these feuds are fueled through facebook and youtube. Its easy to talk shit about someone on these platforms, and even minor transgressions can be met with guns. And this is due to:
C) easy access to guns. Everyone in the media talks about Chicagos historically strict gun laws, which is true, but the missing part is that Chicago is surrounded by places that have extremely lax gun laws (i.e.: Indiana). Most of the guns used in Chicago crimes come from outside the city. And of course the United States as a whole is extremely lax on guns, the likes of which isnt comparable to anywhere else in the western world.
D) repeat offenders. A lot of the violent crime is committed by a statistically small group of people who have been involved with the law in the past. There are lots of reasons for this. Lack of funding and a general shift away from incarceration as a long term solution are factors.
E) poor or non-existent legitimate economic and social opportunities in impoverished areas of the city. Also poor or non existent family structures...crime tends to be a cycle. In lots of cases there is a father who is locked away or not in the picture. Kids are essentially raising kids.
F) resurgence of cheap and powerful heroin. Chicago is the main distribution point for a significant portion of the country. Obviously this also ties in to the current state of the failed "war on drugs"
G) debatable, but the notion that cops are being more lax because they are afraid of being caught in some sort of excessive force scandal.
Anyway, Im not a criminologist, but this is my impression having lived here for a long time.