Chicago Records 14 Homicides In February
By Chuck Sudo in News on Mar 1, 2013 3:20PM
Cheer, Chicago: The homicide totals for February are in and the city recorded only 14 homicides last month. That’s down from the 29 murders in February 2012 and a dramatic reduction from the January 2013 total of 43 — the most deadly January in a decade.
Loyola University criminologist Art Lurigio speculated to the Sun-Times the factors contributing to the reduction, including the national attention the city received after the shooting death of Hadiya Pendleton in January, President Obama’s visit to Chicago to discuss the murder rate with high school students, and increased efforts by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy to curb the violence.
Or maybe it’s just a statistical pattern that homicides drop in Chicago in February. Chicago magazine’s Whet Moser, looking at the oft-cited theory that homicides increase with warmer temperatures, noticed that reported homicides in Chicago February and March tend to drop, despite being warmer months than December and January.
”My only theory, which comes from personal experience as much as anything, is that by February people are finally done with going outside—done with the cold and the dark, and for better and worse, waiting for spring to reemerge.”
Whatever the theory, enjoy it while it lasts: Spring is around the corner.