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Chicago Police reported Friday that there have been 108 murders in Chicago between January and April, a 19.4 percent drop from last year, which saw 134 murders during the same time frame. They have also recovered 421 more firearms and 49 more assault weapons than during this period last year. Total violent crime is down 2.8 percent overall, and property crime is down 9.6 percent. Police Superintendent Jody Weis attributes the decline to new crime reduction strategies. "With the summer fast approaching," Weis said in a press release from the police department, "we will look closely at the tactics which have made the streets safer and engage the community to help us continue in this direction."
However, Chicago Public Schools students are not experiencing the same decline in violence. Last week the toll for the 2008-2009 school year rose to 36. During the 2007-2008 school year, there were 27 students killed; 31 during the 2006-2007 school year.
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Were these CPS students killed on CPS property? What does the fact that children have been murdered have to do with CPS? How many private school children have been murdered? What is the correlation between being murdered and being a CPS student? If there is a correlation, please tell us what it is. Otherwise, perhaps you should do a story talking about how dump this meme continues to be.
You are answering your own question, tdenkinger.
I don't know if you just moved here, or maybe not.
But go to the posh NW Burbs and you will probably find zero students murdered. You can read articles that elude to the fact that it is safer to be in Iraq than it is to be a CPS student. You can read the stats and see that a significant number of CPS students are murdered each year...enough murders to do a freaking study on the subject.
It is one thing to ask a question...but your assertion that just because you don't see the correlation then there isn't one seems a bit one sided.
Also, "dumb".
It just means that although the homicide rate has gone down, the victims are getting younger. It's not CPS's fault, necessarily. And if there were statistics for private school kids, I'd love to include them. But the city doesn't maintain those records, so where would we find them?
We'd be a lot better off by saying something along the lines of, "x number of minors have been killed in gang-related shootings this year."
It's a lot easier to just call them CPS Students to imply that the CPS, and society in general, is at fault for their deaths.
When children are being gunned down in our streets, society is at fault to some extent. Of course the individuals pulling the triggers are ultimately responsible, but societal factors create conditions where violence becomes an epidemic. Whether it's a lack of police resources, people's indifference because it doesn't happen in their neighborhood, a lack of resources for low income neighborhoods - these things contribute. And I think if we were honest with ourselves, we know that if these kids were all white, well off financially, and went to private school this would be the top story on the news every night and people would be up in arms demanding justice and demanding a solution.
That's all good and great, though I don't agree with any of it, but it still doesn't explain why "CPS Student" gets attached to kids killing eachother, while not in school, while doing things that have nothing to do with school. It's irresponsible to attach "CPS Students," and it creates/furthers an undeserved stigma against the CPS.
if dozens of archdiocese kids had been murdered over the course of four months, i am quite certain that the name of the school or the archdiocese would be attached to the headline. cps isn't to blame for the killings, but it is a common denominator. they all were cps students. One of the latest victims was a 16 year old walking his sister to school. Earlier this year kids were killed right outside of Dunbar.
it is completely alarming that 33% of the people who have been murdered so far this year are kids. but hey let's not focus on how to improve that, lets pick on the fact that journalists have identified them as cps students. if you ask me its much more stigmatizing to see your brother, friend, or classmate shot on your way to school than it is for the news to report that your brother, friend, or classmate was a cps student.
CPS is a common denominator, but so are gangs, kids with irresponsible parents, and a slew of other excuses that I'm sure people would blame society for.
The CPS has absolutely nothing to do with their deaths, which is why it's irresponsible to keep mentioning it.