Projects
Community Safety Leadership Academies
The Community Safety Leadership Academies, composed of the Policing Leadership Academy and Community Violence Intervention Leadership Academy, aim to rigorously train the next generation of policing and community violence intervention leaders.
Violence Reduction Dashboard
The Violence Reduction Dashboard (VRD) is a publicly available visualization and analysis tool that provides greater transparency and accessibility to near-real-time violent crime data in the city of Chicago.

One Summer Chicago Plus
Sara Heller and Jon Davis, in partnership with the Crime Lab, evaluated a youth jobs and mentoring program, One Summer Chicago Plus, which provided jobs to thousands of youth as part of the city’s anti-violence strategy.

Back to Our Future (B2OF)
Back to Our Future (B2OF) is an effort to re-engage disconnected youth and connect them back to Chicago Public Schools (CPS) or other education completion opportunities.

Community Safety Leadership Academies
The Community Safety Leadership Academies, composed of the Policing Leadership Academy and Community Violence Intervention Leadership Academy, aim to rigorously train the next generation of policing and community violence intervention leaders.

Illinois Department of Corrections’ (IDOC) Facilities Mapping Project
To improve access to college education opportunities in prison, the Crime Lab partnered with the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) to produce interactive statewide maps to connect facilities with nearby postsecondary education providers.

Chicago Fire Department Technical Assistance
Crime Lab data analysts were embedded in the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) division of the Chicago Fire Department (CFD) to generate data dashboards and visualizations using data from patient care reports.

COVID-19 Technical Assistance
The Crime Lab partnered with the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and New York Police Department (NYPD) to develop data-based projections of the potential spread of COVID-19 among officers and the possible impact on policing activities.

New Jersey Portfolio
The Crime Lab is partnering with the New Jersey Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) to help strengthen reforms to the state’s criminal justice system introduced in 2017, including eliminating cash bail and introducing a risk assessment tool to aid in pretrial release decisions.

Supporting Enlace Chicago and New Life Centers with Data-Driven Proactive Outreach
Using a data-driven approach, the Crime Lab provides individual referrals to help outreach organizations Enlace Chicago and New Life Centers target their services to people who may be at the highest risk for gun violence involvement in the near future.

Chicago Department of Family and Support Services (DFSS) Technical Assistance
The Crime Lab has provided technical assistance to Chicago’s Department of Family and Support Services and its service providers to aid in their efforts to more strategically direct their prevention and intervention services to those individuals most in need.

City of Chicago Mayor’s Office Technical Assistance
The Crime Lab supports the City of Chicago’s Mayor’s Office on several crime reduction projects and initiatives that aim to improve public safety outcomes for Chicago residents.

Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office Technical Assistance
The Crime Lab studied targeted approaches to identify high-risk domestic violence victims, conduct outreach, and provide resources to lower the risk of experiencing future harm.

Workforce Allocation Analysis
The Workforce Allocation (WFA) Analysis examined where personnel resources at the Chicago Police Department are allocated to improve efficiency, equity, and transparency in patrol staffing.

Clearance Rates
The Crime Lab partnered with the Chicago Police Department to analyze historical trends in clearance rates for homicides and non-fatal shootings and evaluate the innovative Area Technology Center (ATC) model.

Narcotics Arrest Diversion Program (NADP)
The Narcotics Arrest Diversion Program (NADP), implemented by Thresholds, provides supportive interventions for individuals apprehended for drug possession and is the most extensive police-led drug diversion program in the United States.

Situational Decision-Making (Sit-D)
The Crime Lab and the Chicago Police Department (CPD) partnered to create and evaluate a behavioral science-informed training that helps improve officer decision-making in ambiguous, high-stress situations.

Youth Advocate Programs
The Crime Lab and Education Lab, in partnership with Youth Advocate Programs, Inc. (YAP), conducted a randomized controlled trial of YAP’s wraparound advocacy services to evaluate the program’s impact on youth academic outcomes and violence engagement outcomes.

Juvenile Justice Agency Collaboration (JJAC)
The Crime Lab is supporting the Juvenile Justice Agency Collaboration (JJAC), a multi-agency partnership aimed at increasing collaboration within the juvenile justice system and minimizing the negative impact of the juvenile justice system on later life outcomes.
