Chicago homicides rose dramatically in 2016

The Chicago skyline
(Image credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Chicago saw its biggest spike in homicides in 60 years in 2016, with the citywide total rising to 762 homicides from 485 in 2015, according to figures released by the Chicago Police Department on Sunday. The total for 2016 in the nation's third largest city was greater than those in New York City and Los Angeles combined. The number of shooting incidents in Chicago, which has become a focus in the national debate over handguns and gun control, rose from 2,426 in 2015 to 3,550 last year.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.