Chicago police: 558 carjackings so far this year, 56% of suspects are juveniles
CHICAGO - Chicago police said Sunday that 56% of suspects arrested for carjacking so far this year are juveniles.
Police said that 90 carjackings arrests have been made so far this year. In April:
- A 16-year-old girl was arrested for four carjackings
- A 15-year-old boy was arrested for a carjacking on the West Side
- A 16-year-old boy was arrested for a carjacking in Rogers Park
Chicago police said that 558 people have been carjacked in Chicago so far this year. That's about four or five carjackings every day.
Overall, 178 juveniles have been arrested for motor vehicle-related crimes since 2022 began.
Though a statistic of 56% of carjacking suspects being juveniles is dramatic, a researcher recently argued that since so few people are actually arrested for carjacking in Chicago, it's impossible to say whether most are teenagers.
Earlier this year, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said "young people that feel unloved" are part of the issue.
"There are too many young people in this room that feel unloved, and we need to change that if we are going to change the trajectory of their lives," Lightfoot said.