2017
Gun Trace Report
Since 2013, the Chicago Police Department has recovered nearly 7,000 “crime guns” each year. For the purposes of this report, a crime gun refers to a firearm recovered by CPD that was illegally possessed, used, or suspected to be used in furtherance of a crime.
The overwhelming majority of these firearms were originally purchased outside of the city limits and brought into Chicago. So far in 2017, CPD is already on pace to exceed last year’s gun recoveries. It is self-evident that the availability of illegally circulated firearms in Chicago is directly connected to its deadly street violence. Simply put, each conflict becomes potentially more lethal due to easy access to a gun.
In an unfortunate but persistent reality, certain retailers and jurisdictions disproportionately account for the guns trafficked into Chicago that sustain its illegal gun market and associated violent crime.
Unforgiving Places- Coming April 2025
Crime Lab Pritzker Director Jens Ludwig authored a book that argues 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.
Local Gun Violence Dashboards
Chicago’s Violence Reduction Dashboard, launched by the Crime Lab in 2021, is featured in a toolkit created by Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund as a part of its Gun Violence Data Fellowship.
Valuing the benefits of reducing firearm violence in the United States
This paper estimates the monetized value of the impact of reducing firearm violence and how that value is distributed across the population.
IL Office of Firearm Violence Prevention
The University of Chicago Crime Lab has partnered with the Illinois Office of Firearm Violence Prevention (OFVP) in support of the OFVP’s goal to use data to focus resources. The Crime Lab prepared the following interactive map to support the RPSA Youth Development Services grantmaking process.
Latest Updates
Discontinued violence-prevention program for struggling teens revived with $25 million
The Crime Lab’s founding executive director Roseanna Ander and director of national programs Kim Smith provide comments about the Chicago Public Schools’ unanimous board vote to reinstate Back to Our Future, a violence prevention program to reengage disconnected youth.
Jens Ludwig — Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence
Join Crime Lab Pritzker Director Jens Ludwig for a book talk and signing at Politics and Prose Bookstore at Union Market in Washington, DC for his upcoming book, “Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence.”
Jens Ludwig and Chief Bill Scott: The Unexpected Origins of Gun Violence
Join Crime Lab Pritzker Director Jens Ludwig for a book talk and signing at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, CA for his upcoming book, “Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence.”
