Behavioral Science
By learning more about human decision-making in stressful situations, behavioral science can help us identify better ways to deal with the harms created by gun violence and a broken criminal justice system — and can help prevent these harms before they occur.
Behavioral science, which seeks to better understand human decision-making, is helping public safety researchers learn more about why individuals are vulnerable to automatic behaviors during high-stress situations — for example, why an individual might pull a trigger when an argument spirals out of control. Behavioral science gives us a new framework through which to view the consequences of difficult situations. This understanding of “criminal behavior” as “human behavior” gives us new tools we can use to reduce violence and promote justice.
The Crime Lab is developing and evaluating programs that provide behavioral science-informed training and supports to individuals at-risk of violence involvement as well as former offenders, police officers, prosecutors, judges, and others involved in the criminal justice system.
Latest Updates
How Treating Teens’ Trauma Is Stopping Violence in Chicago
The Tradeoffs Podcast highlights the Crime Lab’s study of Choose to Change, a program that pairs cognitive behavioral therapy with wraparound supports to engage young people who are increasingly disconnected from school and often exposed to high levels of trauma – with the goal of keeping them safe and helping them thrive.
Major Public Safety Associations Participate in Congressional Briefing on Law Enforcement Training Priorities During National Police Week
Alumni of the Crime Lab’s Policing Leadership Academy (PLA) participated in a bipartisan briefing as part of National Police Week, focusing on key law enforcement training priorities.
Book Review: What We Get Wrong About Violent Crime
Malcolm Gladwell pens a review of “Unforgiving Places,” a new book by Crime Lab Pritzker Director Jens Ludwig, that reflects on how the book “challenges our assumptions about why most shootings happen—and what really makes a city safe.”
