Machine Learning

Machine learning tools continually leverage data to “learn” and improve performance — whether that’s cleaning datasets or analyzing the data within them to make recommendations.

Good data is essential to developing successful interventions to reduce violence and reform our criminal justice system. But too often, public safety datasets are disjointed or otherwise incomplete, which makes it difficult to analyze the effects of an intervention. Machine learning tools can strengthen data analysis by gathering information across multiple datasets or by making predictions based on trends in the data — allowing researchers to analyze data more efficiently.  

The Crime Lab team is utilizing and developing machine learning tools to expand and improve our data analysis capacity within many of our projects. 

Latest Updates

Addressing Data Challenges to Prevent Domestic Homicide
UChicago Crime Lab
Jul 2024

Addressing Data Challenges to Prevent Domestic Homicide

Stephanie Drescher is the Operations Captain, Executive Section at the Madison (WI) 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 spoke with Captain Drescher to learn how her experience in the PLA has shaped her work at her home department.

Improving the quality of life in downtown Knoxville
UChicago Crime Lab
Jul 2024

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.

Chicago CEOs Raise $100 Million to Fight Crime After Bloody Days
Media Mention
Bloomberg
Jul 2024

Chicago CEOs Raise $100 Million to Fight Crime After Bloody Days

Bloomberg’s Isis Almeida and Miranda Davis cite Crime Lab analysis of data on shootings in Chicago during the summer months, which account for more than one-third of the city’s shootings every year.