The 4^th of July weekend in Chicago was so violent, the chief of police despaired about a "broken system" leading to violent criminals escaping justice.  Police superintendent Garry McCarthy surveyed the carnage over the holidays that resulted in 7 dead – including a 7-year-old boy caught in the crossfire – and 40 wounded, and commented that "[c]riminals don't feel the repercussions of the justice system."

Those are Baghdad-like numbers, and despite an increase in police presence on the streets, the bloodshed just keeps getting worse.

CNN:

The system failed Amari, the police chief said. Amari's father, who has been arrested 45 times and has a lengthy criminal record, should not have been on the streets, McCarthy said.

"If Mr. Brown is in custody, his son is alive," McCarthy said.

At a vigil Sunday for Amari, family friend Michael Singleton told the media that unless real changes are made, the cycle of violence will continue.

"All of you all will be back out here next week, on another corner, filming the same thing, from somebody else, saying exactly what I'm saying," he said.

"So I'm tired of doing news conferences. I'm tired of listening to them. I'm tired of talking about them. Until we make a better decision as a community and as a city, this is all that's going to happen."

Even with a 30% increase in the number of police on the streets over the holiday weekend, seven people were killed between Friday morning and Sunday afternoon, the superintendent said.

Another 40 people were wounded in weekend shootings, McCarthy said.

And since Friday morning, Chicago police have recovered one illegal gun per hour across the city, McCarthy said.

"We must stem the flow of guns into the city," he said.

This year's statistics may sound staggering, but compared with last year, the number of violent incidents is actually down. For the same period in 2014, there were 64 shootings, 69 nonfatal victims in those incidents and 15 slayings.

McCarthy said he is incredibly proud of the men and women of his department amid the challenges they face every day.

But "we need some help here, folks," McCarthy said. "We have to fix this broken system."

So is the problem too many guns or a failed justice system?  Obviously, something is radically wrong when a thug like Mr. Brown walks the streets with impunity, taking part in gang activity that may have resulted in the attempt on his life and cost of the life of his young son.  You have to wonder about advocates of criminal justice reform whose agitation against sending black men to jail had any effect in this case. 

Crime rates dropped dramatically because we used to take violent criminals and put them away.  Minimum sentences, stiffer parole requirements, and other measures have come under attack because too many black men are in jail, we're told.  I don't care about the color of the thug; I just want him off the streets.  It may be that playing racial politics with the criminal justice system is contributing to the shocking rise in violence.  If it is, we'll probably never hear about it.