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Michael Hill

Mr. Kays

English 102

1 May 2017

Martial Law Impact on Chicago Homicide Rate

The homicide rate of the city of Chicago has been highly publicized. Even more scrutiny

was placed on Chicago during the 2016 presidential election in the United States. Donald Trump

highlighted the homicide statistics of Chicago and suggested that federal intervention may be

necessary. While the homicide rate of Chicago is not dramatically different from many other

major cities like Baltimore, MD and St. Louis, MO, the consideration of federal intervention

should not be taken lightly. The most extreme form of federal government intervention is martial

law. Martial law has not been deployed in the United States since the Civil War. While the

situation in Chicago and other major cities is not on the scale of the Civil War, the murder rate

should be addressed. Martial law is an extreme case where the federal government oversteps the

state laws and even the rights of citizens. There are also other less severe forms of federal

intervention such as stricter gun control that can be utilized. Would martial law or other federal

government intervention help to reduce the homicide rate in the city of Chicago?

The federal government, namely the President, has the authority to intervene at the state

and local level during times of crisis. The authority of the President was updated in Executive

Order 13603, National Defense Resource Preparedness, by President Obama in 2012 (National

Defense Resource Preparedness). There were false claims made that this order gave the
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President the power to declare martial law. The purpose of the executive order was to delegate

authorities and address national defense resource policies and programs that were put in place

under the Defense Production Act of 1950 (National Defense Resource Preparedness). The

authority provided to the federal government can be beneficial in times of natural disasters or

man-made disasters, such as acts of terrorism. For example, during the aftermath of hurricane

Katrina, the federal government helped to maintain order in New Orleans. This prevented

widespread theft and other crimes against the people of New Orleans. By declaring New Orleans

as a disaster area and a state of emergency, this allowed the forceful removal of residents from

their homes and the suspension of certain laws (Richardson). Following the chaos that ensued

after Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans police, U.S. Marshals and the Louisiana National

Guard forcibly confiscated over 1,000 legal firearms from citizens (Richardson). Federal

intervention during times of crisis may provide a benefit, but can also come with consequences,

such as violations of the civil rights of citizens.

Another example of the federal government intervening at the city level was seen after

the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. The federal

government intervened to provide aid to the city of New York during this great tragedy. Also, as

a result of the September 11 attacks, the federal government passed new legislation, the Patriot

Act. Congress passed the Patriot Act and stated that it would help detect and prosecute terrorism

and other crimes (The USA PATRIOT Act: Preserving Life and Liberty). On the other hand,

civil liberties groups have criticized the Patriot Act as invading the privacy of citizens by

eliminating the requirement of a court order by law-enforcement. Under the Patriot Act, law

enforcement can initiate a Title III surveillance wiretap without a court order (The USA

PATRIOT Act: Preserving Life and Liberty). If there is no credible evidence found, the wiretap
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must be taken down after 48 hours. While this technique may have proved beneficial to capture

terrorism targets, the civil rights of any citizen can be violated any time by the government.

Government oversight does not come without consequences.

For major cities around the country, the homicide rate has grown over the years. While

the homicide rate of Chicago has been widely publicized, it is in the middle of the per capital

murder rate among cities with 250,000 or more people (Mirabile). The largest per capital murder

rate belongs to the city of St. Louis, MO followed by Baltimore, MD. The per capital murder rate

of St. Louis is 59.3 and for Baltimore it is 51.2 as compared to Chicago with a per capital murder

rate of 27.9 (Mirabile). While it may be unfair to single out Chicagos homicide rate, the problem

of homicides in general does need to be addressed. The homicide rate can be addressed at the

federal, state and local levels. This is precisely the case for Chicago. The federal government and

the state government provide aid to Chicago to try to reduce the number of murders. The mayor

of Chicago, Rahm Emmanuel, stated that federal authorities already play an important role in

fighting crime in the city of Chicago by its involvement in controlling the transport of guns

across state lines (Schleifer, Theodore, and Joshua Berlinger). This same policy holds true for the

other states. Given that there is already federal support provided to cities like Chicago, other

means need to be considered to help reduce the murder rate.

The continued rise in the murder rates in large cities has spurred the recent talks of

martial law. In particular, Chicago has been discussed as to what impact martial law would have

on its murder rate. Martial law has not been deployed in the United States since the Civil War.

Under martial law, there is direct military intervention in areas that are normally controlled by

civilians. In this case, the policing of a city would be under military control. Having military

personnel patrolling city streets is difficult to imagine in the United States. The declaration of
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martial law would also give the federal government the authority to violate the civil liberties of

citizens. The basic Constitutional rights of citizens would be suspended under martial law. This

would be an extreme measure to consider.

There are other measures that can be deployed in lieu of declaring martial law. One major

area to address is gun control. While Chicago already has tough gun control laws, improvements

are needed (Bauer). For instance, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Police Department

want the laws to get tougher by imposing harsher sentences on those convicted of gun crimes

(Bauer). The federal government can also play a role in developing stricter gun control laws. The

political agendas of people in the federal government should be set aside when it comes to saving

the lives of American people. The federal government can take a more active role in gun control

and making tougher laws for gun crimes. In addition to tougher gun laws, the federal government

can also provide financial assistance to cities to fund more police officers. Having an adequate

number of police officers can help to stem the violence in cities. City police forces are often

reduced due to lack of funding.

While martial law is often mentioned when discussing solutions to the murder rate in

Chicago, this is currently not a viable solution. There is a reason that martial law has not been

deployed in the United States since the Civil War. The United States believes in protecting the

liberties of its people. Only under extreme circumstances such as war, where there is a total

breakdown in government, would martial law even be considered. The United States has other

provisions such as declaring a state of emergency to handle extreme circumstances. This allows

federal intervention without subjecting its citizens to military rule. The high homicide rate in

Chicago and other major cities can be addressed in much less invasive ways. This includes
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stricter gun control laws, harsher punishments for gun crimes and adequate funding for the city

police departments.
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Works Cited

Bauer, K. Debate Fact Check: Does Chicago Have The Strictest Gun Laws in the Country?

20 Oct. 2016. Web 11 Feb. 2017.

<https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20151027/downtown/does-chicago-have-strictest-

gun-laws-country-its-complicated>.

Book, D. Obama Executive Order Imposes Martial Law On United States. Western

Journalism. Western Journalism, 19 Mar. 2012. Web. 11 Feb. 2017.

Davies, K. "The Imposition of Martial Law in the United States." The Imposition of Martial

Law in the United States 49 air force law review 2000. Journal 11 Feb 2017.

Mirabile, F. Chicago Still Isnt the Murder Capital of America. 18 Jan. 2017. Web. 11 Feb.

2017.

<https://www.thetrace.org/2017/01/chicago-not-most-dangerous-city-america/>.

National Defense Resource Preparedness. GPO.gov. 2012. Web. 11 Feb. 2017

<https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-03-22/pdf/2012-7019.pdf>.

Richardson, Robert. Martial law in the United States: How likely is it, and what will happen

under martial law? Man-made Disasters. Off Grid Survival - Wilderness & Urban

Survival Skills, 15 July 2015. Web. 11 Feb. 2017.

Schleifer, Theodore, and Joshua Berlinger. "Trump Says He'll Send in Feds If Chicago Doesn't

Fix 'carnage'." CNN. Cable News Network, 25 Jan. 2017. Web. 11 Feb. 2017.

<http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/24/politics/donald-trump-chicago-carnage/>.

The USA PATRIOT Act: Preserving Life and Liberty. Justice.gov, 2001. Web. 11 Feb. 2017.

<https://www.justice.gov/archive/ll/highlights.htm>.