Jan 2021

Reducing Crime Through Environmental Design: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment of Street Lighting in New York City

Lucie Parker Aaron Chalfin

This paper offers novel experimental evidence that violent crimes can be successfully reduced by changing the situational environment that potential victims and offenders face. We focus on a ubiquitous but understudied feature of the urban landscape—street lighting—and report the first experimental evidence on the effect of street lighting on crime.

Related Resources
Coming April 21: Unforgiving Places
Other

Coming April 21: Unforgiving Places

Apr 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
Data Tool

Local Gun Violence Dashboards

Jan 2025

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
Academic Paper

Valuing the benefits of reducing firearm violence in the United States

Jan 2025

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
Data Tool

IL Office of Firearm Violence Prevention

Jul 2024

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

#CelebratePolicyImpact: Crime Lab’s Research Expands Drug Treatment Access
Web Post
Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management
Mar 2025

#CelebratePolicyImpact: Crime Lab’s Research Expands Drug Treatment Access

The Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) highlights the Crime Lab’s study of Chicago’s Narcotics Arrest Diversion Program (NADP), a local agency collaboration that seeks to address the root causes of substance use by offering treatment in lieu of prosecution.

Jens Ludwig — Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence
Event
Politics and Prose Bookstore
May 2025

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
Event
Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California
Apr 2025

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.”