In 1999, for the third year in a row, Chicago’s Lakeview community had the most reported hate crimes among the city’s 77 official community areas.  Indeed, with the exception of Rogers Park, Uptown and New City, no Chicago neighborhood had even half the number of reported hate crimes that Lakeview did last year. 

Community awareness and media coverage of the issue of hate crimes surged in the summer and fall of 1998.  On Halsted Street, a gay man was brutally beaten, his skull damaged so severely that the surgeons treating him discovered a brain tumor in the process.  In Wyoming, the murder of a gay college student, Matthew Sheppard, focused national attention on hate violence.  Fresh from picketing Sheppard’s funeral with hateful placards, the Rev. Fred Phelps of Topeka, Kansas, announced he would bring his band of supporters to Lakeview to picket the Sunday worship services of Broadway United Methodist Church.  Given the area’s large gay and lesbian community and business district, the Phelps picket loomed like a “scheduled” hate crime.

In November 1998, the Lakeview Action Coalition (LAC) convened an Issues Assembly at which 250 delegates from the Coalition’s member institutions prioritized combating hate crimes as a major part of its agenda for 1999-2000.  The Coalition convened a Hate Crimes Task Force in the spring of 1999.  The Task Force includes leaders from Broadway United Methodist Church, the Counseling Center of Lake View, Halsted Safety Patrol, Holy Covenant United Methodist Church, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Horizons Community Services, Inter-American Magnet School, Resurrection Lutheran Church, St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Second Unitarian Church, The Night Ministry and Wellington Ave. United Church of Christ.  One leader has been the victim of a hate crime in Lakeview.

Early on, the LAC observed that community involvement on the issue of hate crimes often mushroomed in the wake of a particularly brutal incident, then fizzled.  LAC leaders resolved to seek proactive, sustainable solutions.  They began by researching the problem, interviewing community leaders and police officers and analyzing Lakeview and North Center hate crimes from 1990 through 1999.  With the support of 23^rd Police District Commander Richard Guerrero, the Civil Rights Unit of the Chicago Police Department supplied detailed crime data that provided the basis for this report.[i]

• East Lakeview has the largest and densest pattern of hate crimes in Chicago and it continues year after year.[ii]  
   
  

• There have been 192 reported hate crimes in Lakeview and North Center from 1990 through 1999.  Most of the crimes were batteries and assaults, ranging in severity from verbal threats to brutal beatings.
  
  

• The actual number of hate crimes for the period is probably closer to 500 because many crimes go unreported. 
  

• Three busy commercial streets—Halsted, Broadway and Clark—form the spine of the pattern, which also involves connecting side streets.

• Most of the crimes occurred in public places—streets, alleys and parking lots.

• Most of the hate crimes in the pattern take place between 8:30 pm and 4:30 am.  Currently, the 23^rd District provides no foot patrol in the area foot after 10 pm and none on weekends.

Based on this analysis, LAC is proposing a special pilot project that would match new police resources—a dedicated bike patrol unit, working into the late night hours—with coordinated community involvement.  Bike patrol officers, beat officers and community leaders would meet monthly to share information, analyze ongoing crime patterns and respond to them with specific problem-solving strategies.

Where is the hate crime pattern? 

From 1990 through 1999, 192 reported hate crimes were logged by the Chicago Police Department in the Lakeview and North Center official community areas.  167 were in Lakeview and 25 were in North Center.  Of 192 total crimes, 61.4 percent occurred on just ten streets—Halsted, Broadway, Clark, Belmont, Pine Grove, Melrose, Cullom, Aldine, Lake Shore Drive, and Diversey.  Nine of these ten streets are part of the East Lakeview pattern (only Cullom is outside of the area).  The actual number of hate crimes for the period is probably closer to 500.  A study by the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Klanwatch Project concludes that 75 percent of hate crimes go unreported.  Lisa Tonna, Director of information and referral for Horizons Community Services (Chicago’s largest gay and lesbian community service agency) says underreporting is especially likely in cases based on sexual orientation.

37 percent of the crimes took place on just three streets—Halsted, Broadway and Clark.  The great majority of hate crimes took place in a cluster around Broadway (from Diversey to Grace), Halsted (from Barry to Grace) and, to a lesser extent, along Clark St.  The pattern is located primarily in the 23^rd Police District in five adjoining police beats: 2323, 2324, 2331, and 2332 and 2333.  129 Lakeview hate crimes took place in those beats between 1990 and 1999. 

This area includes Chicago’s gay and lesbian “downtown,” home to gay bars and businesses—and a very visible gay population.  It is an area where some gay couples walk hand-in-hand.  Both the geographic aspect and the time aspect of the pattern suggest that many offenders target gay men walking to or from bars, coffee houses and other late-night businesses.  East Lakeview is also home to four synagogues and a Jewish Community Center.  An unfortunate side effect of East Lakeview’s religious and racial diversity and the community’s acceptance of gays and lesbians is that the neighborhood is an obvious target for those who want to act out their hatred.

Chicago Police reports include a “location code” to identify the type of place where a crime took place.  This data shows that most reported hate crimes occurred in public spaces—such as streets, alleys and parking lots.  This is significant because it suggest that visible police presence and greater community vigilance can make an impact in deterring some crimes and increasing the chance of making arrests in others.  (In addition to public spaces, hate crimes took place at synagogues, in taverns and at private residences and offices.)

When do crimes occur in the pattern?

Are hate crimes linked to Cubs night games?

We did not find any correlation between reported hate crimes and Chicago Cubs night games.

What groups are targeted in the pattern?

The challenge in measuring reported crime:

Testimony in public forums attended by members of LAC’s Hate Crimes Task Force over the past three years indicates that a large segment of East Lakeview’s population does not necessarily view the police as allies in the fight against hate crimes.

1. There is an ongoing pattern of hate crimes in East Lakeview, clustered around the area’s three major commercial streets: Halsted, Broadway and Clark.  The pattern is located primarily in the 23^rd Police District, in beats 2323, 2324, 2331, 2332 and 2333.  It is Chicago’s largest and densest hate crime pattern
2. The bias classification for most of the crimes is sexual orientation, but there are also significant numbers of crimes based on race and religion. East Lakeview is targeted because of its visible diversity—including its Chicago’s gay and lesbian “downtown” and the community’s synagogues and Jewish Community Center.

 

3. Reported hate crimes represent only a fraction of the total problem.

    

4. Most hate crimes occur in public areas such as streets, alleys and parking lots, suggesting that strategies that incorporate an increased police presence and community vigilance can be effective in deterring some crimes and arresting offenders in other cases.

    

5. Most hate crimes occur between 8:30 pm and 4:30 am.  Compared to most Chicago communities, there is a great deal of activity on street during these hours—people walking, cycling, patronizing and staffing bars and restaurants.  These people are potential victims and potential allies in solving the problem.  This means it is important for any new policing strategy to be interactive with the public.

    

6. The majority of reported hate crimes are offenses—such as batteries and assaults—that involve direct, violent or threatening contact between offender and victim.

    

7. The compact, predictable nature of the East Lakeview pattern provides a valuable opportunity for the police and community to target hate crimes with joint problem-solving strategies.

Table 1:

Ten streets in Lakeview and North Center with the most reported hate crimes, 1990-1999

Between 1990 and 1999, 61.4 percent of the reported hate crimes in Lakeview and North Center took place on just ten streets, according to data provided by the Chicago Police Department’s Civil Rights Unit and analyzed by LAC.  37 percent of the crimes took place on the three main streets—Halsted, Broadway and Clark—that form the spine of the east Lakeview hate crime pattern.

Within the East Lakeview pattern area, hate crimes were much more likely to be reported during late at night—between 8:30 pm and 4:30 am—than outside the pattern.  Currently, there is no foot patrol along these streets after 10 pm.

Table 2:

Hate Crimes in Lakeview and North Center by Bias Classification, 1990-1999

Table 3: