Homicide: Toronto vs. Chicago

I’ve written about this before, but it’s worth a second telling. Besides, how many of you read footnote #14 to the Epilogue of Cop in the Hood?

Chicago and Toronto are similar sized cities. Chicago is having a record low number of murders; Toronto is having a record high number of murders. Chicago is patting itself on the back; Toronto is in crisis mode. And the numbers:

Chicago: 450 murders a year.

Toronto: 60 murders a year.

Here’s The Crime Report’s summary and the full report from Chicago’s WBEZ.

And if you think Canada is some homogenous lily-white country, I’d like to point out–because once again it shows that immigrants do not equal crime–that Toronto is half the residents are half foreign-born. Bet you didn’t know that. That has got to be the highest percentage in the world for any big city. And I would also guess that New York City, with about 30% of residents being from another country, is number two.

9 thoughts on “Homicide: Toronto vs. Chicago

  1. I believe Miami has a higher percentage of foreign born residents.

    One thing to keep in mind that is seldom mentioned when discussing Canada and immigration is the selective nature of the immigration system. Canada has a long history of sending out immigration agents to recruit immigrants with specific skills, as far back as the 1800s.
    My fellow Canadians can be quite morally smug when it comes to this issue especially wth regards to the US. They fail to mention that Canada's ethnic diversity is very much cherry picked.

    Another aspect of immigration to Canada is our geographical isolation. It's fairly difficult to immigrate here illegally. This reinforces the selective nature of our immigration system. The largest government estimate of illegals I've come across is 200 000. The largest estimate I've seen from an advocacy group is 500 000. At one point Arizona with a population of 6.5 M apparently had 650 000 illegals, if you believe the numbers.

    When it comes to the immigration game, Canada, for the most part, gets the top draft picks. These relatively highly skilled and educated immigrants are easier to integrate and are more likely to have positive social outcomes no matter what country they emmigrate to.

    Just something to remember when you come across some of my countrymen boasting of our tolerance and diversity and shitting on the US.

    All the best and keep the Canada posts coming.

    -From Canada

  2. Ha. Now I get it. That's a funny typo!

    (a shame, for me, there is no spell check in the titles!)

  3. Miami?! Who would have thought?

    Indeed, 49% of Miami-Dade residents are foreign born (Miami proper is even higher, but I think too small to count as a big city).

    I think New York and Toronto still win on overall diversity. Miami is also somewhat unique in terms of being 30% Cuban. Only 25% of Miami residents speak English as a 1st-language at home. That's pretty amazing.

    Regardless, Miami-proper certainly does certainly not support my immigrants-equal-less-murder hypothesis. But Miami-Dade overall has a low (for the US) homicide rate of 3 per 100,000.

  4. Is there a correlation between murder rate and severity of drug war laws? I really don't know if drug dealers get longer sentences in Canada or not.

  5. Certainly there's a direct correlation between prohibition (the drug war) and homicide. That we know.

    Sentences are generally much shorter in Canada, usually about half of what we give here in the US (though I don't know the specifics about drug dealers).

  6. The atmosphere in New York and Toronto is very different. If the place doesn't feel depressing, most people have nice jobs and benefits, and the government does it's job properly, I do not see the point of killing anybody.

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