Chicago earns disturbing title of America’s murder capital as DNC kicks off in the Dem-led Windy City

Democrat-led Chicago earned the disturbing title of America’s murder capital for the 12th year running in 2023 — as homicides have surged almost 50% from a decade ago, according to troubling data.

At least 617 people were murdered across Chicago — where the Democratic National Convention kicks off Monday — in 2023, compared to 416 killed 10 years ago in 2013, recent statistics from the research group Wirepoints.org found .

That kill count put Chicago ahead of every city in the country for the 12th year in a row — beating out Philadelphia’s 408 murders last year, and New York City’s 386 homicides.

The Big Apple’s population is approximately three times larger than Chicago’s, but the city had about 40% fewer murders last year.

The number of homicides in Chicago did decline by about 13% from 2022 – fitting a national trend of year-on-year drops following a pandemic spike. However, the bloody tally still is 24% up from 2019, before COVID-19 ravaged cities across the US, Wirepoints found.

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Violent crime, including assault, battery, violent robbery, and sexual assault, also collectively rose in the Windy City by 11.5% in 2023 — making it the city’s most violent year in a decade with an 18% increase since 2013, an analysis from the Illinois Policy Institute (IPI) found .

Concerningly, arrest rates did not follow the crime increase. Out of nearly 30,000 violent crimes reported in Chicago in 2023, there were just over 3,000 arrests — a 33% drop in the arrest rate compared to a decade ago, according to IPI findings which looked at official City of Chicago data.

Many have blamed Illinois’ George Soros-backed, progressive State Attorney for Cook County, Kimberly Foxx, for the criminal chaos that’s consumed the city.

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Since she took office in 2016, Foxx has increased the burden of proof required to hold criminals until their trial – resulting in sometimes violent offenders being let back out on the streets to re-offend.

She also raised the threshold for felony theft from $300 in value to $1,000, enabling crimes like shoplifting and robberies to soar as offenders face little recourse.

Numerous lawmakers and law enforcement officials have spoken out against Foxx’s policies over the years – including Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Jim Murphy.

Murphy directly blamed her policies for his decision to retire after 25 years in 2022.

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The embattled Foxx, meanwhile, has said she does not plan to run for re-electon in 2024.

While some crime areas like residential burglary and drug offenses have returned to or dipped below pre-pandemic levels, several other major crimes in Chicago are still elevated.

Gun assaults have increased nearly two-fold, with 735 reported as of June 2024, compared to 480 during the same period in 2019, the Council on Criminal Justice’s Mid-Year Crime Report found .

Motor vehicle theft has increased by an astonishing 160% compared to 2019 — with 2,013 incidents reported as of June 2024. There were 773 reports of motor vehicle theft in the first six months of pre-pandemic 2019.

Shoplifting numbers dipped during the pandemic when stores were closed, but have steadily returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Larceny is down from before the pandemic but has been trending upwards each year.

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