# Drop in crime in Chicago

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-in-crime-in-chicago/726680>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [July 31, 2015, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-in-crime-in-chicago/726680 "2015-07-31T22:32:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![cornopean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cornopean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornopean)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-in-crime-in-chicago/726680/1 "2015-07-31T22:32:10Z")

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Can anyone confirm or corroborate these numbers? Pretty amazing if true.

“Since Illinois started granting concealed carry permits this year, the number of robberies that have led to arrests in Chicago has declined 20 percent from last year, according to police department statistics. Reports of burglary and motor vehicle theft are down 20 percent and 26 percent, respectively. In the first quarter, the city’s homicide rate was at a 56-year low.”

> **[Chicago crime rate drops as concealed carry gun permit applications surge](https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/aug/24/chicago-crime-rate-drops-as-concealed-carry-gun-pe/)**
>
> An 86-year-old Illinois man with a concealed carry permit fired his weapon at an armed robbery suspect fleeing police last month, stopping the man in his tracks and allowing the police to make an arrest.

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**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-in-crime-in-chicago/726680/2 "2015-07-31T23:31:40Z")

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The crime rate in Chicago has been headed generally down for years: see [http://crime.chicagotribune.com/](http://crime.chicagotribune.com/) for details.

However, the local TV reports that murders were UP 40% in the first quarter versus 2014, so no. [Chicago shootings up 40 percent in first quarter of 2015, CPD says; Emanuel, Garcia weigh in on city crime - ABC7 Chicago](http://abc7chicago.com/news/cpd-chicago-shootings-up-40-percent-in-first-quarter-of-2015/600391/)

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**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-in-crime-in-chicago/726680/3 "2015-08-02T22:53:19Z")

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Before you attribute the effect to carry permits, try ruing out other possible causes like somebody getting tomorrow’s paper a day early.

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**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drop-in-crime-in-chicago/726680/4 "2015-08-03T00:33:31Z")

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It is possible for overall crime to go down while murders as a sub-category go up. Research is needed on this question.