Judges will go easier on a younger person because for the purpose of rehabilitation as opposed to prosecution, so they're typically given lighter sentences, if a firearm was not used in the commission of the crime, they're probably not going to get any jail time whatsoever.

Mike Verden

All we know right now is that he's not in custody, and he's not deceased, sometimes these guys get away… Some want to do suicide by cop, some kill themselves, and some just don't want to get caught.

The biggest thing right now is that this person is not in custody, usually in these types of incidents, they die at the scene…This is kind of unique.

This is absolutely tangible proof of fallout from defunding Cleveland Police, defunding Cleveland Police has these types of residual effects – you have a decrease in staffing. So, the less police you have, the less coverage you have. And the less coverage you have, the more crime you have. While some carjacking incidents result in vehicles being sold on the black market to be stripped down for their parts, there's been more of an increase in the Midwest of those vehicles taken in carjacking being then used to commit other crimes, such as smash-and-grab robberies, Verden said. He said other crimes, like home burglaries, are down because more people are home during the pandemic.

Criminals aren't stupid. They know that if there are no consequences for their actions, they're going to do it over and over again, it's just the same people doing the same bad things.

With a crime like carjacking, it's a crime of opportunity. And what we're seeing here in Chicago, and Chicago is like Cleveland Police and other cities, all of these cars are being carjacked to commit another crime.