Homeless in Chicago

The Homeless Are the Prey of Marauding Teens

By Thomas Hansen, Ph.D.

One of the biggest groups of victims on the Red Line and other CTA trains is the homeless population.  They are subject to the robbing, bullying, harassment, and violence of thieves running through the trains at all hours of the day – and night.  The thieves take the bags of food, backpacks with essentials, and shopping bags full of important papers, all as part of their ongoing game to control the trains.

The thieves are teenagers.  Watching their performances is an eye-opening experience and one might wonder if it is the teenagers who are in charge of the CTA messages and trains.  There are no police officers or security guards or working CTA officials monitoring the behavior of the teens or doing anything about it.    

The other night, teens ran to the very last car on the train to look through their rewards—several backpacks they had wrestled away from homeless people who could not fend off the group of a half dozen tall, athletic young people.  

Janice, who rides the trains nightly, tells me these young Chicago persons are well-rested and are in such great physical shape.  She states, “They control the cars of the train without anyone being able to stop them.” The other night, a female CTA employee—complete with CTA jacket—sat through the teenagers’ ritual of going through the stolen backpacks.  The CTA employee stared at the floor and refused to engage the teens in any form of conversation.

All of the teens were smoking cigarettes or marijuana, bragging about their thefts, and giving speeches to those who would listen.  

None of the other people on the train said or did anything.  In the speeches, the teenagers blame many people for their lot, including the homeless.  One of the teens kicked a sleeping, perhaps intoxicated, older gentleman sprawled across the seats.  Nobody on the train did anything in response. Nobody reported the kick. Nobody made a comment. Nobody tried to stop any further kicking or other violence.  

In effect, the other dozen people on that car of the train are trapped.  They cannot argue with these large teenagers. They cannot “press the button to talk to the conductor” as the policy tells passengers they should do.  The conductor is eight cars away. Nobody wants to alert the teenagers someone is reporting them for their crimes—smoking, harassment, theft.     

The homeless persons and the other passengers are simply trapped.

When the teens had left the car, one of them remained behind.  Apparently, that youngster is there to listen to any complaints or comments from the adults who have had to listen to the young people give their speeches.  That individual reports any comments to the leader of the thieves, Janice explained.         

When pressed for possible solutions, Janice expressed her frustration at the situation.  “Nobody dares report the teens out of fear of reprisal,” she exclaimed. “Nobody can do anything at all unless they want an all-out brawl on the train.”

For the homeless, dealing with the violence of the teenagers is a daily challenge.