Statistics About Carjacking in Chicago and Cook County, Illinois

Aristidas Tankus
2 min readMar 14, 2022

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Cook County, Ill. motorists are becoming less safe in their vehicles due to a rise in vehicular hijacking, or carjacking. In 2020, 1,416 carjackings were reported in Chicago, about the same level as the number of carjackings confirmed back in 2001, when there were 1,422 carjackings. In 2021, the number of carjackings in the city reached nearly two thousand, according to NBC Chicago. The suburbs have also seen a spike in carjackings.

The majority of these carjackings that are taking place in both Chicago and its suburbs is aggravated carjacking. Aggravated carjacking, a Class X felony that can result in the offender requiring to serve between six and 60 years in prison according to Ill. law, is the most dangerous type of hijacking, as motorists’ lives could be at risk if they refuse to surrender their vehicle. Regular carjacking, on the other hand, is a Class 1 felony that leads to a jail sentence of four to 30 years, according to Ill. law. Regular carjacking incidents have also been reported in both Chicago and its suburbs.

The Cook County Sheriff’s Office reports that 64% of male motorists are victims of carjacking. However, female motorists are not the exception, as 36% are carjacking victims. WGN-TV security guard Salena Claybourne became the latest female victim of aggravated carjacking on March 8, 2022.

According to the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, motorists who drive sedans are more likely to become carjacked victims than motorists who drive SUVs, coupes, hatchbacks, minivans, and pickups. Most carjackers are also ambushed on foot.

Recently, Chicago has expanded its carjacking task force, according to mayor Lori Lightfoot and police Superintendent David Brown. Officers who are involved in the carjacking task force in the city will be scheduled to work 24 hours in order to mainly focus on arresting carjackers.

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Aristidas Tankus

Aristidas Tankus is a Communication major at the University of Illinois-Chicago. You can follow him on Twitter @AristidasTankus