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In Chicago, cognitive behavioral therapy shows promise curbing youth violence
NPR’s Meg Anderson reported on Chicago’s Choose to Change (C2C), a program that combines trauma-informed therapy with wraparound supports and aims to reduce youth violence. The Crime Lab found that the program can effectively and sustainably reduce violence involvement and the likelihood of being arrested.

Unforgiving Places: The Behavioral Science of Ending Gun Violence
In this talk hosted by Chicago Booth’s Think Better Speaker Series, Jens Ludwig argued that the lack of progress in reducing gun violence ultimately stems from our having misunderstood the nature of the problem, and that behavioral science gives us a new way to understand – and solve – gun violence in America.

Do the Police Have a Management Problem?
Crime Lab Pritzker Director Dr. Jens Ludwig was featured on the latest Freakonomics Radio episode with Policing Leadership Academy participants and leaders. In this episode, Jens and Freakonomics Radio host Stephen J. Dubner discussed our Policing Leadership Academy and the importance of professionalizing police leadership to effectively reduce gun violence.

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.

Overview of the City of Chicago’s Violence Reduction Dashboard
The Crime Lab hosted a webinar that explored the City of Chicago’s Violence Reduction Dashboard—a publicly available tool launched to support efforts to reduce gun violence through transparent, real-time data.
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.”

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.

How a study in the Stockholm subway could help prevent violent crime
We need to learn the lessons from an ingenious piece of research done in Sweden and radically change policies around interpersonal violence, says UChicago Crime Lab director Jens Ludwig.

The Alumni Dispatch: Leveling Up with the CVILA
Community Violence Intervention Leadership Academy (CVILA) Program Manager Alesisia Cobb sat down with alumni DuJuan “Zoe” Kennedy (Cohort 1), Tracie Campbell (Cohort 2), and Rahaman Kilpatrick (Cohort 3) to discuss the ways their CVILA experience has contributed to their professional growth.

Understanding Gun Violence in America
Steve Davies and Jens Ludwig discuss why America has so many gun deaths, how traditional narratives fail to explain most gun violence, and why past policies failed to reduce the deadly toll. Ludwig speaks about his new book, grounded in evidence and behavioral insights to further explain gun violence.

‘Definitely a cause for hope’ UChicago economist says of new book on causes of gun violence
America has a fundamental misunderstanding of what drives gun violence, and it’s prevented us from solving the problem. That’s according to the new book “Unforgiving Places”, by University of Chicago economist and Crime Lab director Jens Ludwig.

We’ve Been Thinking About Gun Violence All Wrong
Jens Ludwig, Crime Lab Pritzker Director and author of “Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence,” pens an op-ed for TIME Magazine arguing that the root cause of gun violence is not what we think it is — rather than a deliberate, rational act, most shootings start with arguments that escalate and end in tragedy because someone has a gun.

The Indicator from Planet Money: What we misunderstand about gun violence
Crime Lab Pritzker Director Jens Ludwig joins NPR’s The Indicator from Planet Money podcast to discuss why he believes many of us fundamentally misunderstand the problem of gun violence and how behavioral economics reveals some potential solutions.
