Violence up 7.2%: robberies, aggravated assaults, batteries hit 5-year highs
Chicagoans experienced 7.2% more violent crime between August 2023 and July 204, with cases of robbery, aggravated assault and aggravated battery at five-year highs.
Chicagoans experienced 7.2% more violent crime from August 2023 through July 2024 than during the previous 12 months, with cases of aggravated assault, aggravated battery and robbery reaching five-year highs.
Residents reported 30,375 violent crimes through July. Cases of violent crime increased but the arrest rate for these felonies dropped to just 12.8%, the second-lowest level in the past five years.
Overall, robberies were the most common violent crime, accounting for 36% of incidents. Batteries and assaults were an additional 57% of cases.
Cases of robbery increased the most of any violent crime in Chicago during the past 12 months, with reports increasing 11.8%. This was partially because of coordinated robbery sprees in some of the city’s traditionally safest neighborhood.
Compounding that trend, the city’s arrest rate for robberies fell to its lowest level in the past five years with just 1-in-18 cases resulting in an arrest.
The West Side saw most of these crimes, with Mayor Brandon Johnson’s home neighborhood of Austin reporting the most robberies of any community, followed by the neighboring Humboldt Park.
Hispanic Chicagoans were notably 2.6 times more likely to be victims of a robbery compared to white Chicagoans, while Black Chicagoans were 2 times more likely to be targeted.
White Hispanic Chicagoans were also the most frequent victims of robberies, making up 39.5% of cases during the past year, followed by Black residents at 32%.
According to the Illinois Policy Institute’s Lincoln Poll in January, 2 of every 3 Chicago voters polled somewhat or strongly disapproved of Johnson’s handling of crime.
Longer-term solutions cannot work unless today’s crimes are addressed and Chicagoans – like the ones living in Johnson’s neighborhood – stop living in fear.