Rising Temperature Raises Body Count

Rising Temperatures In Chicago Raises The Body Count and Creates A Unsafe Environment
-Kierra T Reese

The first day of Summer is not until June 20th, yet the city of Chicago has been experiencing unusually high temperatures. The heat is seen as a relief from the cold for some, but there are other people that hate to see it coming. It is a known fact that when temperatures go up so does the crime and death rate. The city of Chicago is a prime example of this.  At the end of the Memorial Day weekend, over 10 people had died and  40+ people were shot or harmed. Many of the crimes are results of reckless activity and gang violence in various areas of the city. Memorial Day Weekend, in the eyes of some, marks the beginning of warm weather and their "unofficial" start to the summer season. Unfortunately this year it was a landmark weekend for violent death.

Jasmine Rice, a Senior Psychology major at Illinois State University and a native of Chicago, is ashamed   of the increase in crime but admits she is not not surprised. In a interview Rice stated, "In my 17 years of residency in Chicago before coming to college, I noticed a trend of violence and shootings throughout the months of May and August. In my social psychology class, taken last semester, I learned about a study that showed an increase in violence as a result of heat. I am not surprised but I wish that it would decline in the near future and eventually cease. My family decided to celebrate Memorial Day in the privacy of our backyard because public areas such as neighborhood parks seemed too unsafe. "

This is a harsh reality and makes me sad because it forces me to think about how things have changed since I was a young child. When I was younger, the change in weather still meant that the streets were safe for us to play on. Our parents did not have to be extremely worried and we were allowed to roam, ride our bikes, and play sidewalk games like most children do. These days, children are being killed at their birthday parties indoors, shot while sitting with their parents on their front porches, or even during trips to the local corner store. Children are also being killed going back and forth to school. I can only imagine how sad it must be for parents to lose their children because someone chose to engage themselves in foolish behavior. Many of the 200+ deaths that have taken place in the first few months of 2012 are due to gang violence. The summer months bring warm weather which seems like an ideal time for gang initiations. People are everywhere and are out enjoying the weather. It is sad that doing normal summertime activity makes them targets for people that have to do things to prove a point.
The rise of crime and death during the summer sets off alarms everywhere. Watching the news and hearing about the reported deaths breaks my heart and almost makes me want to not be informed because the news is always bad news. I am not looking forward to having children because of the possibility I may lose them to violence. My childhood in Chicago was great, especially the summers. I looked forward to  visiting my grandparents, riding my bike, and having water balloon fights with other kids in the neighborhood. If the crime in the city does not decrease, my children will not be establishing memories on the same streets that brought joy to my young life.

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/12/chicago-murder-rate-up_n_1420382.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/29/chicago-shootings-10-dead_n_1552297.html

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-04-12/news/ct-met-chicago-homicides-soar-20120412_1_nonfatal-shootings-chicago-homicides-chicago-lawn