Jan 2020
Rethinking the Benefits of Youth Employment Programs: The Heterogeneous Effects of Summer Jobs
This research paper presents the results of two randomized field experiments, which both involved offering supported summer job opportunities to different groups of young people in Chicago.
Choose to Change® (C2C®) Program Guide
This program guide is intended for community-based organizations working to fill gaps in services and reach an underserved population of youth impacted by violence and trauma.
Building safer communities: Behavioral science innovations in youth violence prevention
This policy brief highlights results from a large-scale randomized controlled trial that evaluated the impact of Choose to Change® (C2C®) on participants’ criminal justice involvement.
Unpacking the Impacts of a Youth Behavioral Health Intervention: Experimental Evidence from Chicago
This working paper details results from a study of Choose to Change® (C2C®), a trauma-informed cognitive behavioral therapy and intensive mentoring program developed by nonprofits Brightpoint and Youth Advocate Programs, Inc. (YAP).
Improving Programming in Juvenile Detention: The Impact of Project Safe Neighborhoods Youth Outreach Forums
This paper presents the results of a randomized controlled trial of a youth outreach forums program run in the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center (JTDC) by the Northern Illinois Project Safe Neighborhoods Task Force.
Latest Updates
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.
Rethinking Gun Violence
Vital City sat down with Crime Lab Pritzker Director Jens Ludwig to discuss his new book, Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence,” which shows how changing individual behavior is possible — and that these changes can result in declines in gun violence.
