2023: Year In Review
2023 concluded with fewer homicides, fewer people shot, but significantly more robberies and unscheduled automobile borrowings. However, "crime is down".
Coming off the events of 2020 and a “not as bad as the nineties” 2021, 2023 continued the “decrease in the increase” pace witnessed by 2022 by posting a very 10-year average total of 644 homicides. Given the below-average, boarding on flat-out retarded leadership of the city, average is the new A+, gold star, job well done. Just don’t ask about robberies, the “strategic plan” needs a little more time in the oven.
2023: 644 killed, 2,501 wounded
2022: 738 killed, 2,936 wounded
2021: 856 killed, 3,745 wounded
2020: 798 killed, 3,450 wounded
2019: 524 killed, 2,291 wounded
2018: 592 killed, 2,465 wounded
2017: 685 killed, 2,935 wounded
2016: 808 killed, 3,658 wounded
2015: 513 killed, 2,546 wounded
2014: 465 killed, 2,239 wounded
Avg: 642 killed, 2,845 wounded
A breakdown of the year’s idiocy shows:
575 shot & killed
32 beaten
24 stabbed
13 killed via other means
10 shot by police, 5 fatally
23 self defense, 8 fatally
94 homicide-linked arrests
Averaged 8.4 people shot per day
All 365 days recorded a shooting
82 days were homicide-free
550 in serious or critical condition
554 (86%) males killed vs 90 females
507 (79%) Blacks, 111 Hispanics, 25 other
31 children 12 and younger shot, 6 fatally
Homicide age range: 0-86
Team Austin & Englewood tied w/ 231 total shot
11th District won w/ 80 homicides
37 expressway shootings, 6 fatal
179 grazed
39 selfies
126 #ShotInTheAss
What We Thought Would Happen
With an even more pro-criminal, more retarded ruling class taking over mid-year, along with the SAFE-T Act coming into force in September, it wasn’t all that difficult to assume a repeat of 2022 at the very least. We were overly aggressive with our call of 750-800 homicides and another 3000+ wounded as it seems as if robbery and stealing cars is more lucrative than eliminating the street corner competition.
An interesting dynamic appeared in 2023, homicides were up in some of the usual places, yet fewer were being shot. This could be due to additional training (unlikely) or we suspect that the usage of switches was throwing more lead down range.
Englewood: recorded 255 shot in 2022, with 42 proving fatal (16.4%) whereas 2023 saw 231 shot with 52 ending badly (22.5%).
Garfield Park saw 293 shot in 2022, with 45 proving fatal (15.3%) but 2023 saw 227 shot with 49 fatalities (21.5%).
Grand Crossing ticked off 166 shot in 2022, with 19 proving fatal (11.4%) however 2023 tallied 134 shot with 27 unfortunate endings (20.1%).
Less lead, more dead is not necessarily a positive development.
What We Think Will Happen
As for 2024, we’re not confident we’re going to see the pace continue to slow as election years tend to be markedly worse than the previous year. 2008, 2012, 2016 & 2020 all ran up the body count anywhere from 20-55% over the previous year. Given the fractured state of the union, we wouldn’t be surprised to see a repeat of 2020 – an average start then all hell breaks loose ushering in another Summer of Love only Mayor Ratio will be more deer in the headlights/siding with the criminal class because root causes than Groot was.
Given the election year trend, a return to a 775-800 homicide year with another 3250 +/- shot and wounded is a possible and likely outcome for 2024.
What’s your prediction? Put it in the comments below and we’ll revist in a year - number of homicides and number of wounded. Price Is Right rules apply.
Overall Crime is Up, Way Up
Making robberies into larcenies. Making rapes disappear. You juke the stats, and majors become colonels. I've been here before. - Ronald ‘Prezbo’ Pryzbylewski, The Wire
We typically do not pay attention to other crimes as those numbers are highly susceptible to manipulation. It’s typically harder to hide bodies and people shot vs reclassifying a robbery as theft. If we’re not mistaken, the official 2023 numbers seem to be larger than those of years past aside from the top-line body count. That’s odd. We’ve been told repeatedly that ‘crime is down’ and that’s with 1500 fewer police officers with the ones remaining told to back off. Less cops, less (reported) crime!
Thanks For Your Support
As always, many thanks to everyone who visited, liked, retweeted, emailed, hit the tip jar and/or picked up some tees or other crap this past year. We’re planning on expanding our ShopJackass! offerings this year, but in the meantime, we do have three months of shitty weather to get through. How about a nice Chalkie hoodie?
Young black men (15-34) are 2% of the population and commit half of the nation’s homicides. A rate fifty times higher than the average American. Most of their victims are other black men. They are the country’s gun violence problem and until that problem is addressed there will be no peace on our streets.
I will go with your shot estimates but will go with 875 biting the dust. Reason being they are getting more AR and AK high capacity firearms which should increase their kill percentage. However, maybe even that may not be enough to get them out of the sorry 20% +_ accuracy of the past. I think Brandon should put target practice classes into the schools. That would be the only thing learned in the sorry school system.