We all are aware that crime is a growing problem in Chicago. We hear the stories. We sympathize with Jussie Smollett’s fear of noose-wielding-bleach-carrying MAGAts. We know that shootings are through the roof.

But how bad is it really? San Francisco, which has been getting attention for its crime problem, isn’t nearly as violent as people suppose. It is a hellhole, yes, but not especially violent.

But Chicago? It is not just a hellhole, but a horribly violent one too. And getting more violent. And will continue to do so because they just elected a pro-criminal mayor–again.

Wirepoints, an Illinois-based public policy nonprofit, did the math and it looks pretty horrible. And as they show, it looks horrible because crime does pay and people do get away with almost all the time.

If you commit a crime in Chicago, you will probably get away with it. (Although your chances probably go down after repeated crimes.)https://t.co/73q141vj3C Via @wirepoints: pic.twitter.com/1w90h6Jltp

— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) April 11, 2023

Only 5% of reported crimes result in an arrest, and God knows how many crimes never make it into the stats. With a clearance rate this execrable why bother reporting a crime?

Look at that criminal sexual assault stat–3%. Aside from burglary, rape is probably one of the least reported crimes. And with a clearance rate like that, it almost makes sense not to report it. But we still make it illegal to kill the bastard, and with a 1 out of 3 clearance rate for murder, it’s not worth taking that chance.

The result of the utter inability to catch and punish criminals? It doesn’t take a genius to guess:

Murders are down for the moment, although we haven’t hit the summer months so we will see if that trend continues. But everything else is way up, and owning a car in Chicago is clearly a bad bet.

Come to think of it, maybe it is greenies stealing the cars? They hate cars.

This year’s increases follow an enormous increase last year. An almost unbelievable one at that.

Soft-on-crime policies are supposedly intended to relieve the burden of policing on the “oppressed,” but without seeing income statistics I am pretty sure we all know who is being ever more victimized by the criminals. While crime for everybody has gone up, it is the lower-income, primarily Black communities that are being ravaged. Criminals tend to be lazy, not Ocean’s 11 types who plot out complicated schemes to make a big score.

They prey on their neighbors mostly. I live in a “majority-minority” neighborhood and unsurprisingly crime hits us hard. We have 7 Ring cameras that appear to deter the bastards, but over the past 4 years our neighbors have been hit several times, and there have been 4 or 5 drive-bys, including two incidents where police have been shot at. This is in Minneapolis.

Cops, by the way, respond fast and hard when that happens, and it’s not Glocks that they bring. It’s those big, scary AR-15s.

These are the fruits of a policy that views crime as a societal problem, not a criminal problem. It’s not that there aren’t social issues that correlate highly with the crimes themselves, but you have to make crime NOT pay before you can address any of the underlying causes.

And, of course, nobody knows how to reverse the biggest cause: broken families.

As bad as things are in other cities, Chicago has been leading the way in decriminalizing crime. Criminals get the message when you remove the consequences of committing criminal acts.

That’s why property crime plagues San Francisco and violent crime plagues Chicago. The consequences don’t deter.