Numbers Can Decieve

Growing up in the so-called bubble of the North Shore, I can't begin to imagine having to be scared of the possibility of being shot as I walked across my backyard. Unfortunately, 9 year-old, Antonio Smith, suffered this tragic fate, when he was shot in a backyard after running out of his home.  Allegedly, his mom had not allowed him to eat a cupcake he had asked for and, as any 9 year-old with a sweet tooth would do, he got angry with his mother and ran out of the house. As he was running from his mother, 4 men were driving around looking for rival gang members.  Just as the four men found two of their rival gang members, Antonio Smith was in the backyard of a house right there and he was yelling.  One of the convicted men, Derrick Allmon was ordered by another, Jabari Williams, to shoot the two men of the rival gang.  Smith started screaming to warn the two men of their attack and so he turned and shot Smith multiple times in the chest, wounding him fatally.  Derrick Allmon, 19, Jabari Williams, 22, and Michael D. Baker, 19, all face first-degree murder charges in the death of Antonio Smith.   After the shooting occurred, the hand gun that was used to kill the child was thrown into a sewer and his body was found a few feet away from a railroad track that has served as a boarder between the two gangs for years.  Unfortunately, this is not a super uncommon problem, but gang violence and all crime in Chicago is something that has caused a huge struggle for years. 

Crime in the city of Chicago has been sky rocketing in the past.  For example, the murder rate in Chicago in 2012 was almost four times higher than New York City and 2.5 times higher than Los Angeles.  To put in perspective, Chicago's population is nearly three times smaller than New York City's and almost half as big as Los Angeles's population.  However in recent years crime rate has gone way down, and the Chicago Police Department is taking drastic measures to try and keep it down. 

 This graph shows the continued decline of all crimes in chicago from 1993-2013. However, as this article goes on to point out, people capatalize on, wow, murder rates are down 18 percent and crime is down 23 percent in total.  However, people just tell them what sounds good.  In reality, we had more deaths in 2012, with 507 murders, than any other city in the nation. It is deceiving to look at the numbers because despite the fact that crime is decreasing, it is still a very pressing problem within the city. Hopefully something can be done to get these numbers and statistics even lower so kids like Antonio Smith don't have to be worried about being shot in the backyard.