MADISON - ST. CLAIR RECORD

It’s back. Namely, that specious argument that Chicago’s murder problem is nothing much to worry about because there’ve been other years when the total was considerably higher. The “So what? It used to be worse” argument is utter nonsense and callous, dehumanizing, and dangerous.

Maybe you thought that the farther away we got from Covid and post-George Floyd violence, the steadier and stronger would be Chicago’s recovery from the crime that plagued the city in 2020 and 2021. But a slew of year-end data show Chicago is still mired in crime. All in all, it’s a portrait of a city stuck in an abyss.

Politico says the Chicago mayor’s race highlights the importance of the “progressive” agenda for Chicago and the focus will be on crime. There are grumbles that incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot isn’t “progressive” enough. But the urban progressive agenda under her – with its emphasis on “social justice,” managed outcomes, and performative politics – has hardened the city’s horrible results for blacks around crime and K-12 public education.

Illinois state lawmakers have an opportunity to correct the gravest missteps baked into the SAFE-T Act. The best way to do that would be rescind the entire Act and start over. But Illinois Dems won't. Why should they dismantle SAFE-T, they'll ask, given the elections they swept last week?

City data shows total violent crime on Chicago’s transit system is on track to hit a five-year high by year’s end, even with full-year 2022 CTA ridership headed for just half of what it was in 2019.

What will Illinois look like when the state’s controversial criminal justice reform bill called the SAFE-T Act is fully implemented January 1? Look to Cook County, which has already crippled its criminal justice system with changes similar to those in the SAFE-T Act.

It’s remarkable that as Illinois state lawmakers make police misconduct data more transparent under their 764-page SAFE-T Act, they’ve totally ignored needed reforms to bring similar transparency to felony criminal case sentencing. In places like Cook County, where horrific crimes by repeat offenders are daily news, residents should know who’s responsible.

As Chicago-style crime continues to spread across Cook County and collar counties, local state’s attorneys are increasingly worried about a new state law. As of January 1st it would sharply restrict the imposition by judges of cash bail for criminal defendants before trial.

Over 2021 and into 2022 major crimes have spread from Chicago’s South and West Sides to the city’s downtown and upscale neighborhoods north and south. Now Chicago’s seemingly intractable crime problem is spreading across city and county lines, as well. This is what happens when basic principles of policing and law and order are subverted by a political establishment which puts the rights of the accused ahead of the rights of victims.

Chicago needs to get back to basics on economic development, not half-baked glitzy development proposals from Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

The July 4 mass shooting at a parade in the northern Chicago suburb of Highland Park which killed seven and wounded 30 was deeply disturbing and tragic, as all such incidents are. A suspect has been taken into custody and charged today. Again a cry is rising for more gun control. But the media and the public need to understand that the ongoing emphasis on mass shootings and gun control is a losing strategy. It’s easier to strategize smartly if you have a clearer view of the landscape.

The very public servants we pay to protect us and maintain order in Chicago are increasingly under attack themselves. At an order of magnitude dramatically greater than in years past.

We’ve reached a breaking point on crime in Illinois and supermajority Democrats in the state legislature know it. So as June’s primary elections approach, they’ve introduced legislation to create a Crime Reduction Task Force that would “develop and propose ways to reduce crime across the state.” Legislators, law enforcement, policy experts, victims and witnesses would “review research and best practices while taking expert and witness testimony” and then issue findings and recommendations to lawmakers and the Governor by March 1 of next year.

Illinois has earned a reputation as the place people like to leave. Data from the IRS, the Census Bureau, U-Haul and United Van Lines, and most recently from the Allied-Zillow Magnet States study, all show that Illinois is bleeding more people than almost any other state in the country. Practically all of the fresh leakage is due to outmigration driven by high taxes, arrogant governance, and toxic corruption.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot this week touted a fractional drop in murders and a modest reduction in shooting incidents this year versus the same stretch last year.