The city of Chicago has had its share of violence over the last 40 years, but there is a reason for the city of Chicago's residents to be happy in 2011. Let me explain. One homicide is too many. However, homicides are on the decline in the city of Chicago covering the years 2000-2010. In 1974, there were 970 homicides in Chicago, and several street organizations were formed after the explosive 1960s Black Power era. The street organizations began to carve themselves out a piece of the Chicago real estate on the south, west, east, and north sides of Chicago. Most of the Chicago street organizations wanted to emulate the Mafia. Everybody wanted to be like Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, Bumby Johnson, and the likes of big time Mafia personalities. Heroin was the drug of choice in the '70s. The street organizations were killing for control of different areas in the city of Chicago.
Then the '80s ushered in the distribution of crack cocaine sales. In the '80s Chicago experienced an average of 700-800 homicides per year. The street organizations took control of the crack cocaine business and things went crazy all the way through the '90s averaging 650 -900 homicides per year in that era. As a matter of fact, there were 943 homicides in 1992.
The Illinois Department of Corrections officials locked down the penitentiaries in the '90s and there was a time when the gang chiefs could control the streets from their jail cells. Additionally, the feds were all over the place with RICO convictions and many leaders were sent far away for life. The hip hop generation took over the game and began to realize that they did not have to answer to anybody. At the same time, many former leaders did not want to end up in TAMMS Super Max Prison. No more leaders led to less violence in Chicago. Between the years of 2000-2010, there was an average of 450-600 homicides per year. In 2010, the city of Chicago recorded 435 homicides for the first time since the 1960s. From January 1, 2011 to May 31, 2011 homicides are down by 16% compared to the same period in 2010.
Most of the violence in the city of Chicago is interpersonal and spontaneous. The street organizations have been broken down into cliques and factions. This is one of the main reasons why homicides continue to decline in Chicago. CeaseFire continues to help young men and women understand that violent behavior can be unlearned; it's just a matter of addressing the issue of urban violence as an epidemic and working with the highest risk individuals to change their thinking as it relates to violence. CeaseFire addresses violence as a Public Health issue and believes that violence can be a thing of the past one day. Along those lines, Chicago is on pace to getting homicides to under 400 in 2011. All of these factors give the residents of the City of Chicago hope that the current trend in declining homicides will continue.