Reducing Gun Violence, Advancing Justice
Summer Safety Analysis: Chicago Crime Trends
These data visualizations present our summer safety analysis on Chicago crime trends.
Improving the quality of life in downtown Knoxville
Captain Sammy Shaffer is the Commanding Officer of the recently created Central District in the Knoxville Police Department and a graduate of the 2023 inaugural cohort of The University of Chicago Crime Lab’s Policing Leadership Academy (PLA). Our Crime Lab team chatted with Captain Shaffer earlier this year to hear more about how his experience with the PLA has shaped his work at his home department.
May 24, 2024: Policing Leadership Academy graduates and staff at the graduation ceremony for its second cohort. Photo by Beking Media.
The Crime Lab designs, tests, and scales data-driven innovations to improve the public sector’s response to the dual challenges of America’s gun violence crisis and a criminal justice system that is not truly just.
Given its scale, when it comes to gun violence and the criminal justice system, the government can cause the most harm from its failure–or have the greatest positive impact. That’s why working with public sector agencies to improve their response is central to the Crime Lab’s work: it’s the best way to make progress at scale.
Topics
Our goal is to have an outsized impact on our streets, in our courts, and across our justice system to support neighborhoods disproportionately suffering from these crises. That’s why the Crime Lab measures success in terms of real-world results.
Community Violence Intervention
Through a combination of street outreach by credible messengers and behavioral science-informed interventions, community violence intervention (CVI) programs help de-escalate stressful situations before they lead to violence.
Criminal Justice Reform
We're advancing long overdue reforms to reduce the harms of America's broken criminal justice system.
Gun Violence
In cities across America, communities face high rates of gun violence and significant harm caused by the criminal justice system – both of which disproportionately impact communities of color.
Policing
If we want to address America’s gun violence epidemic and save lives today, fair and effective policing is essential. But for too many communities, we are failing to deliver that kind of policing.
Youth Violence
Gun violence is the leading cause of death for young people in America. But youth violence interventions can help keep kids safe and reach those who are the hardest to reach.
Latest News & Events
Crime, Guns & Solutions: What Are We Doing to Stop the Flow of Guns in Illinois?
Please join Christopher Amon, Special Agent in Charge (SAC) for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Chicago Field Division, Brendan Kelly, Director of the Illinois State Police, and Kim Smith, Director of Programs for the University of Chicago Crime Lab and Education Lab to discuss the source of guns coming into our region, and what can be done to eliminate them from our communities.
How Chicagoans are tackling gun violence
Kim Smith, Director of Programs at the University of Chicago Crime Lab joins WBEZ’s Reset podcast with Sasha-Ann Simons to discuss solutions to gun violence.
Can We Predict Police Misconduct?
In a recent Economics Applied podcast, Crime Lab Faculty Director Jens Ludwig shares about his recent work on “Predicting Police Misconduct.” Jens dives into whether we can predict which police officers are most at risk of serious misconduct.
