Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) attributed the recent uptick in violence in the United States’ major cities such as hers to the coronavirus pandemic.
Lightfoot claimed there was “no question” there was a “COVID-related impact on the public safety system.” She also emphasized the need to fight the root causes of violence in cities like Chicago, which she said was poverty, lack of jobs and lack of hope.
“[W]e are making progress in Chicago,” Lightfoot outlined. “We have a homicide clearance rate that’s about 45%. Certainly below what we expect, but better than we’ve been in about five or six years. We cleared more murders this year than we have in the last 10 years. So, we’re seeing progress being made, but there’s no question that the COVID-related impact on the public safety system in Chicago, in New York, in L.A., D.C. and other cities across the country is real. And what we’ve got to continue to do is make sure that we’re demanding of our courts and our prosecutors that they hold violent people accountable and keep them off our streets.”
“It’s a huge issue for us in Chicago, and we have to continue fighting that fight,” she continued. “And then we’ve also got to play the long game at getting at the root causes of the violence, which is poverty, lack of investment, lack of jobs and … lack of hope. We got to disrupt the pipeline of young souls that are going to the streets and subject to the predatory tactics of the gangs by giving them hope in a future that isn’t minding somebody’s corner spot.”
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