Chicago refuses to treat teenage criminals like criminals.
Over the weekend, a 14-year-old boy was murdered and eight other teenagers were shot in two shootings in Chicago’s “Loop” shopping center. That same weekend, a homeless man was stabbed to death by three teenage boys in the Loop as well. The shooting was the result of a “teen takeover,” where “hundreds” of teenagers flock to a location to riot. Chicago deployed 700 police officers and some “community violence intervention workers” to the Loop in preparation for one such takeover, to little effect.
THE ROAD TO THE CHICAGO TRAIN FIRE ATTACK
That is because there is no threat of enforcement coming from the city. If hundreds of teenagers are violently rioting, attacking police officers (according to a city alderman), and disrupting the public, they should be arrested, charged, and prosecuted. But Chicago’s current leadership doesn’t believe in that. Mayor Brandon Johnson vetoed a curfew for teenagers over the summer, and is instead whining that we “have more work to do in this city to provide safe spaces for our young people.” He blames adults for not keeping these violent “kids” in line.
The first adult to blame here would be Johnson. In 2023, when a violent mob of teenagers assaulted people in the streets and broke car and business windows, Johnson had the following to say: He said that “demonizing children is wrong,” he compared violent 16 and 17 year olds to middle school students, and he said that sometimes teenagers make “silly decisions,” such as the decision to jump random civilians and light cars on fire.
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Chicago has had issues with juvenile crime going back to the pandemic, with juvenile criminals growing up and graduating from stealing phones to organized robbery and carjacking rings. All the while, Johnson bemoans that shootings and other violent teenage mob activities “set us back as a city” and “evokes fear.” What does Johnson mean to do about it? Absolutely nothing but vague calls for more “resources” and for places to become “safe spaces for our young people.”
Teenagers are old enough to know that riots, shootings, and carjackings are wrong. If you refuse to hold them accountable for it, you embolden them to become more criminal, to the point where you need to consider ridiculous alternatives such as curfews. When you don’t even want to take that step, you are giving teenage criminals a green light to do what they want, consequences be damned. That is what Brandon Johnson has brought to Chicago.