Home / Sections / Headliner News / Tio “Mr. Ceasefire” Hardiman Wants Teens Charged with Carjackings to Receive a Two-Year Mandatory Stay in a Bootcamp

Tio “Mr. Ceasefire” Hardiman Wants Teens Charged with Carjackings to Receive a Two-Year Mandatory Stay in a Bootcamp

CHICAGO – Tio “Mr. Ceasefire” Hardiman, founder and executive director of Violence Interrupters Inc., today called on city and state officials to establish a boot camp for youth who are arrested for carjacking in the nation’s third largest city.

With carjackings involving teens and adolescents ages 16 and under on the rise in the city, Hardiman, one of the nation’s leading anti-violence experts, said those charged with such violent crimes should receive a mandatory two-year stay in a bootcamp.

This week, authorities linked youth, who they say attend elementary school, to several carjackings in the city’s South Shore neighborhood. Youth have also been linked to carjackings in other areas of the city. No longer are these crimes relegated to crime-ridden areas on the city’s South and West sides, but now they are targeting car owners in more affluent areas, such as Logan Square, BuckTown, Lincoln Park and even the city’s trendy shopping areas, including the Magnificent Mile. But Hardiman said he was moved to call for more punishment after two teens received “a slap on their wrists” for driving a stolen car that rammed a truck killing Cristian Uvida, a sixmonth- old baby. They were charged with criminal trespass to a vehicle for the murderous crime on April 16th in the city’s West Garfield neighborhood.

“Two kids got off with misdemeanors; that should not happen,” Hardiman said. “If a young person under 16 has been caught carjacking somebody with a firearm, or if the crime causes a loss of life, instead of charging them with a misdemeanor or sending them back home, there should be a two-year mandatory book camp and the parents must sign the kids over to the bootcamp. If they do not sign them over, they should be prosecuted and charged as an adult.”

The rise in youth involved in carjackings comes during a period when authorities say carjackings in the city have declined from the previous two years, but car thefts are on the rise. According to Hey JackAss!, there have been 313 carjackings and 12 arrests in 2023. In 2022, there were 1,674 carjackings and 119 arrests, compared to 1,848 carjackings and 106 arrests in 2021. Meanwhile, auto thefts rose 55 percent from 13,856 in 2021 to 21,516 in 2022. That trend continues in 2023.

“They are playing with numbers,” Hardiman said. “They are just trying to twist the stats. It is easier to carjack than to steal a car.

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