What We Get Wrong About Violent Crime
Summer greetings from the Crime Lab! Inevitably, as the weather heats up, a great deal of attention will once again focus on one of the greatest challenges facing Chicago and other cities in the United States: gun violence.
Since its release in April, our Faculty Director Jens Ludwig’s book, Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence has reframed the debate around gun violence and public safety, transforming the conversation from one of partisan impasse to a deeply human — and solvable — issue.
We’ve been so encouraged to see the enthusiastic reception for the book — including most recently from Malcolm Gladwell, who penned a review in The New Yorker and called it “one of the most fascinating books I’ve read in a long time.”
If you haven’t picked up Unforgiving Places yet, we encourage you to dive in. The book is helping to shift not only how we understand violence in America, but what we can do to prevent it. As always, thank you for your continued partnership and support.
Warmly,
Katie Hill
Executive Director
University of Chicago Crime Lab
The Latest from the Policing Leadership Academy
Last month in Washington, D.C., the fourth cohort of the Crime Lab’s Policing Leadership Academy celebrated their graduation. The 35 graduates serve 34 departments across the country — from Sacramento, CA to Louisville, KY to the San Carlos Apache Tribe — and one international location (Toronto, Canada). We were delighted to welcome guest speakers Laura Cooper, Executive Director of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, Robert Contee, former Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C. and now an Assistant Director at the FBI, and John de Blasio, a Crime Lab Investor’s Council member and donor to the academy, who gave remarks at the graduation ceremony.
We look forward to welcoming the next cohort of police leaders next month. Learn more.
On May 14, Policing Leadership Academy alumni participated in a bipartisan briefing held by the U.S. Senate Law Enforcement Caucus as part of National Police Week. The briefing focused on key law enforcement training priorities, including the implementation of the Law Enforcement De-Escalation Training Act (LEDTA), the need for modern de-escalation strategies, and ongoing challenges in hiring, staffing, and retention. Learn more.
VIDEO: Reducing Violence and Improving Policing
This video provides a glimpse into the Policing Leadership Academy, a program designed to increase safety and fairness in America’s most violent neighborhoods. It features academy alumni Major Jason Bennett, District Commander of the Baltimore Police Department’s Southern District.
Crime Lab in the news
Tradeoffs: How Treating Teens’ Trauma Is Stopping Violence in Chicago
NPR’s The Indicator for Planet Money: What we misunderstand about gun violence
Economics, Applied: Understanding Gun Violence in America