Chicago Top Cop: ‘Criminal Justice System Is Not Supporting a Reduction in Gun Violence’

Speaking with CBS Chicago about newly released crime stats that show June 2015 was a deadlier month with more shootings than June 2014, Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said, “3 out of 4 people” arrested with firearms in the first quarter are back on the streets of the Windy City.

He summed it up by saying the “criminal justice system is not supporting a reduction in gun violence” and made clear that until they do, violence in the city will continue.

According to CBS Chicago, June 2015 saw “13 more murders than June 2014, 20 more shooting incidents, [and] 24 more shooting victims,” yet non-gun crime was in decline.

When asked why “gun violence” isn’t following the downward trend, McCarthy said:

We make more gun arrests than any city in the country every single year. This year our gun arrests are up by a lot. We’re up by about 25 percent in gun arrests. [And] we’re tracking what happens with our gun arrests because I’ve realized that the sanction for losing a gun by a gang member is greater from the gang than it is the criminal justice system.

These kids don’t drop the guns when we chase them, which is different than anything I’ve experienced in other cities.

….We’ve locked up eight people so far this year twice with firearms. Five of them are already back on the street as we speak. 3 out of 4 people that we arrested in the first quarter [with firearms] are on the street right now. Until such a time as that changes…the criminal justice system is not supporting a reduction in gun violence in the state of Illinois.

It should be noted that in February Fox News Latino reported that drugs are one of the driving forces behind the gangs and gang violence McCarthy referenced. Fox quoted Dennis Wichem–special agent in charge for the Drug Enforcement Agency’s Chicago field division–as saying, “Sinaloa Cartel traffickers sit on the top of the pile, and they feed down all the way to the street level dealers.”

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.