Chicago Crime Trends: Murder Victims Increasingly Likely to Be Found Outside
Posted Nov. 27, 2012, at 4:36 p.m.
While researching something unrelated, I came across this (PDF) odd chart. It's a clear trend, but a totally puzzling one.
Also a trend:
It could make sense if you buy the theory that murders in Chicago are increasingly the territory of gang members (as opposed to domestic or other conflict-related); for obvious reasons, gang members would be more likely to encounter one another in the public way as opposed to a residence. Otherwise, I'm baffled.
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Is there anyone who doesn't buy the theory that Chicago's murder rate is rooted in gang violence? These neighborhoods are fractured into block by block territories controlled by warring factions.
That being said, the number of outdoor murders has always been higher than indoor and appears to be relatively stagnant in the 2000s prior to the 2007 housing crisis. I'm preying that 2012 was an outlier year in homicides.