Why are murder rates in Chicago so high?

History and geography have conspired to give the city of Chicago an unenviable reputation for guns and gangs, but what will it take to bring the murder rate, which rose 55 per cent last year, down?

Low conviction rates and an unwillingness on behalf of witnesses to give evidence play their part in the problem. But others think the time has come to treat murder like any other deadly disease that afflicts the poor.

Charmaine Cozier examines the reasons for the city’s stubbornly high murder rate and the options to stop the killing.

Produced by Nathan Gower.

(a small flag depicting bullet holes at an anti-gun violence march in Chicago Dec.31 2020. Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski /Getty Images)