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Murders In Chicago Essay

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Murders in Chicago Chicago has gained a national reputation in recent years for its higher rate of murders, relative to the rest of the large metropolitan centers in the United States. In the month of March in 2015, 35 people were murdered in the city (“Chicago Murders,” 2017). 23 (66%) of those slain were black. The rest (34%) were classified as either white or Hispanic, though one individual classified as white was named Talal Aljohani, calling into question whether some white individuals should be described as Asian/Middle Eastern. In addition, many of the white victims have Hispanic names; at least 6 of 12 non-black murder victims in all (in addition to the 1 victim who is identified as Hispanic). That would mean at least 20% of …show more content…

The racial data indicates young black men bear the brunt of the deaths, and that young man overall are the ones being slain in around 2/3 cases. The typical age of victims in the black community points perhaps to gang violence as a factor in most black deaths.
Specific Murder Examples Sifting through the murders in the Austin neighborhood, in particular, every victim was a black male, aged 21-30. Two were shot in a drive-by. The other two murders in that most violent neighborhood had the appearance of planned executions, not related to any immediate argument. Together the four killing suggest gang violence. The men were targets that were preselected, not spur-of-the-moment killings due to a fight or robbery. The drug trade and drug usage is not necessarily a micro level factor, but it probably explains the killings. From other sources, one may discover that most of the people arrested for all types of crimes test positive for drugs and that murders are quite frequently related to gangs, who sell drugs to obtain income. Peer pressure within the gang would push a member to put aside any qualms they might have about murder and pull the trigger. There may also be revenge motivations for killings that the other gang carried out against the shooter’s own personal group.
Social Significance The best explanation for the above murders is c. These killings are the result of individual level interactions in specific contexts. Each

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