chicago crime

December 4, 2020

Man Stabbed to Death at Thanksgiving Dinner

by Law Offices of David L. Freidberg, P.C.

The holidays are a stressful time, especially this year with so many facing an uncertain future. On top of that, COVID shutdowns are causing crime to spike all over the country, especially in major cities. Chicago is among the major U.S. cities that have seen spikes in crime during the quarantine. Meanwhile, economic recessions, counterintuitively, cause crime rates to go down.

But COVID has not behaved like an economic recession. In fact, the situation we are still enduring is unprecedented in the last 100 years. Still, the question remains: Why is crime spiking when fewer people are on the street?

Mental Health Issues

August 9, 2016

Shootings in Chicago are Skyrocketing: Too Much Police Paperwork to Blame?

by Law Offices of David L. Freidberg, P.C.

There is no doubt about it, this year Chicago is experiencing a serious spike in shootings and murders. In fact, ABC7 reports that there were 65 fatal shootings in July alone. What is to blame for this spike in violence? While there are undoubtedly many contributing factors, the head of the Chicago Police Union claims that police paperwork is in large part to blame. In an interview with DNAinfo the union leader explained that the problem does not exclusively stem from paperwork issues, but that the implementation of two-page Investigative Stop Reports has led to fewer police stops and, therefore, more violent crimes being perpetrated on the streets.

Chicago’s New Two-Page Investigative Stop Reports

Starting on January 1, 2016, Chicago’s old checklist contact cards were replaced with two-page Investigative Stop Reports. Under the old contact card system, every time a police officer interacted with a civilian on the street the officer would document the encounter via a simple checklist on an index-sized contact card. However, police officers are now required to document each encounter by filling out a two-page questionnaire. This new requirement means that police officers in Chicago are spending much more time filling out paperwork and much less time interacting with people on the street. An article from DNAinfo notes that during the first 11 days under the new policy there was a 79% decrease in police stops. The article states that there were just 3,916 investigative reports filed during these 11 days, compared to the 16,698 reports that were filed during the same period last year under the old system. This difference is clearly astronomical.

May 11, 2016

Getting into a Chicago Street Gang is Easy, Getting out Alive is the Problem

by Law Offices of David L. Freidberg, P.C.

It has been said that street gangs exist to fill a void in the lives of their members. A gang member may feel a lack of love and support from his or her people at home. Statistically speaking, about 72% of African American children are being raised in single parent households. The emotional needs of many of these children cannot be met in the environment in which they are being raised. Therefore, many of these young men and women will seek to fill this void by joining a gang, without the wisdom and understanding to know (before it is too late) that there is no love in these affiliations because street gangs thrive off hatred, lawlessness, and despair.

In some cases, however, the street gangs seeking to draft new members do not allow a choice in the matter. For young men and women, especially young men, it becomes a matter of joining the gang in their neighborhood or suffer the consequences. Turf wars, drug dealing, and vigilantly justice are the driving forces behind these gangs. To be a member, you must be ready to participate in murders, robberies, and other crimes dictated by the gang leader.

The Tragedy of Lee McCullen

May 4, 2016

Chicago Law Enforcement Handicapped, Community Involvement Required

by Law Offices of David L. Freidberg, P.C.

When crime on the streets gets so out of control, when criminal gang members have their run of the neighborhoods, when they can commit violent crimes without compunction, including violent assaults and murder, then you will find at the very foundation of such lawlessness a total breakdown of community involvement and lack of support for the law enforcement.

Gang Members Given “Get Out of Jail” Passes

Get out of jail passes, also known as parole, are not normally given to convicts with a long history of violence. In fact, when crimes are committed by persons while out on parole, the parole is revoked and the individual is re-arrested and required to not only serve any new prison sentence, but also the remainder of the sentence from which he was paroled.

March 2, 2016

Chicago Gangs: a View From the Past

by Law Offices of David L. Freidberg, P.C.

Gang violence is nothing new in this country, from New York City, to Chicago, to Las Vegas and beyond, criminal gangs and gang violence has left its mark on American society.

The era of the Italian Mafia is one of the most notorious periods in American history. The Mafia, whose criminal activities back in the twenties, thirties, and forties were so glamorized in Hollywood movies crime families like the Capone “Outfit” and the Genovese crime family became a part of Americana. Who has not seen movies such as the 1931 movie “Little Caesar” with Edward G. Robinson, and the 1931 movie “Public Enemy” with James Cagney?

The organized crime street violence of the 30s reached a climax with the now infamous St. Valentine’s Day Massacre orchestrated by Al Capone, which led to the slaughter of seven members of a rival gang. One of the men shot during the raid, found still alive, refused to name those that committed the crime. He died moments later without “snitching” on the person or persons that killed him. See History.com