It’s been a sad but common occurrence in recent weeks and months.
Crime rates are skyrocketing in Democrat-controlled urban centers across the country.
And another weekend brings another wave of deadly violence in one iconic American city.
Over the weekend, 21 people were shot and 5 killed in Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s (D) Chicago.
Between Friday evening and Sunday morning alone, there were 12 shooting injuries during that early part of the weekend.
One male, age unknown, died after being struck in the head by gunfire while in a car Friday evening on the far south side of the city.
Two other men were shot and killed in the same south side of town, with another shot dead on the west side and still another on the southwest side.
According to The Hill, Chicago police confirmed the city witnessed 797 homicides during 2021, which made last year the deadliest year the city has witnessed in 25 years.
Part of the reason for the sharp increase in homicides can be attributed to far-left politics.
Just as we’re now seeing in Los Angeles where Democrats’ pro-crime policies have also led to an uptick in violent crime, similarly poisonous thinking is now afflicting the Windy City.
According to a January article in the New York Post, nearly 100 murder suspects are now free – in the comfort of their own homes – thanks to pro-crime judges and criminal justice “reforms” that keep defendants out of jail.
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart says, “Home monitoring is not a program for people charged with violent offenses. Seventy-five to 80 percent of my people on home monitoring are charged with a violent offense. I have about 100 people on home monitoring who are charged with murder.”
But that’s not all.
Even setting aside murder suspects, local TV station WGN-9 reports that 852 people in the pre-trial program face aggravated gun possession charges and another 40 are charged with attempted murder.
Even the leftist Mayor, Lori Lightfoot, was stunned by these numbers, saying “Do you feel safer knowing these numbers? I don’t think any sane person does.”
According to Lightfoot, the release of violent suspects can be blamed on 2017 “reform” limiting the use of cash bail.
In December the Mayor asked Chief Judge Tim Evans to keep those charged with violent offenses behind bars, saying, “The system is fundamentally broken in a way that is making our city unsafe.”
Unfortunately, the judge denied the Mayor’s request, saying her “proposal seems to require that defendants facing certain allegations be considered guilty until proven innocent.”
An increase in crime can be traced to similar leftist policies in New York State and in Los Angeles, but these failed policies may already be falling out of favor.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams is attempting to roll back similar laws in his state’s capital and far-left District Attorney George Gascón faces a potential recall amid public outcry.
Public opinion seems to be shifting fast toward law and order.
Hopefully for the residents of Chicago, local officials rethink laws that have proven to be disastrous.
Stay tuned to Blue State Blues for any update to this ongoing story.
