Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson wants to fight “teen takeovers” in his city but he is going the wrong, indeed ridiculous, way about it. He thinks he should fix the problem by taxing social media companies and using the revenue to fund more programs for teenagers. Yeah, that’ll work!His aldermen sensibly wanted to authorize stricter curfews and pass laws that would hold parents accountable when their children break the law. Taxing social media companies won’t solve anything. Holding parents accountable for their teenagers’ lawbreaking will.Five police officers were injured and three teenagers were shot during two teen takeover events in Chicago during Memorial Day weekend. The first began at around 3 a.m. Sunday on the West Side, near a public housing complex, where hundreds of teenagers gathered and fought in the streets. Dozens of police officers were sent in to disperse the crowd. As they tried to restore order, a teenager driving a blue sedan plowed into five officers, injuring them such that they needed to go to a hospital. The driver was arrested and charged with attempted murder.
The next day, roughly 500 youths converged on 57th Street Beach. Again, dozens of officers responded to keep order. This time, one officer was injured by youths resisting orders to disperse, and three teenagers were shot and taken to a hospital. The shooter was not arrested. Police made a total of 53 arrests at the two events and 42 people were charged, including 13 on felony counts. Unfortunately, while current Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke is better than her predecessor when dealing with adult crime, her office still favors deferred prosecution for juveniles, which means that many of those arrested last weekend may never face meaningful consequences.
