Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Chicago Murders

There has been so much talk about the number of murders in Chicago this year. Let's see how the number of murders in 2016 in Chicago ranks in the past 40 years.

Jimmy Carter | Ronald Reagan | George H Bush | Bill Clinton | George W Bush | Barack Obama

Rank. Year - Murders
1. 1992 - 943
2. 1994 - 931
3. 1991 - 928
4. 1981 - 877
5. 1980 - 863
6. 1979 - 856
7. 1993 - 855
8. 1990 - 851
9. 1995 - 828
10. 1977 - 823
11. 1996 - 796
12. 1978 - 787
13. 2016 - 762
14. 1997 - 761
15. 1986 - 744
16. 1989 - 742
17. 1984 - 741
18. 1983 - 729
19. 1998 - 704
20. 1987 - 691
21. 1982 - 668
22. 2001 - 667
23. 1985 - 666
24. 1988 - 660
25. 2002 - 656
26. 1999 - 643
27. 2000 - 633
28. 2005 - 602
29. 2003 - 601
30. 2012 - 516
31. 2008 - 513
32. 2015 - 492
33. 2006 - 471
34. 2009 - 459
35. 2004 - 453
36. 2007 - 448
37. 2013 - 441
38. 2010 - 436
39. 2011 - 435
40. 2014 - 432

The murder rate was going up under Carter and were way down by the time Reagan left office.  Under George H Bush the rates climbed back up to get to their highest point in 1992.  Under Clinton the rates consistently fell to below the Regan era numbers.  George W Bush kept the rates down and then Barack Obama kept those rates low until this year when we had a spike.  It is this large increase that is so stunning.

The big question of course is why such a dramatic increase?  What changed?  Why this year?  Is it a blip or is it a trend?

2 comments:

  1. You did a whole series at the HP--maybe it was right after the re-election of President Obama--where you wrote about how to measure the health of the country or a group of people. Do you remember any of those labels or keywords? I want to find those posts again if they are still around.

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