Dec 2014

Summer Jobs Reduce Violence among Disadvantaged Youth

Sara Heller

This article in the journal Science explores the impact of a summer employment program in Chicago on disadvantaged youths and their propensity for violent crimes.

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Choose to Change® (C2C®) Program Guide
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Choose to Change® (C2C®) Program Guide

Oct 2024

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.

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Building safer communities: Behavioral science innovations in youth violence prevention

Oct 2024

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.

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Unpacking the Impacts of a Youth Behavioral Health Intervention: Experimental Evidence from Chicago

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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).

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Improving Programming in Juvenile Detention: The Impact of Project Safe Neighborhoods Youth Outreach Forums

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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

Kelly Leonard: How improv can help police do their job
Media Mention
WGN Radio 720
Mar 2025

Kelly Leonard: How improv can help police do their job

Kelly Leonard joins WGN’s John Williams to discuss The Second City’s partnership with the Crime Lab’s Policing Leadership Academy that’s using improv to help officers improve their communication skills.

Novel approaches can chip away at gun violence, and make a big difference
Op-Ed
Chicago Sun Times
Apr 2025

Novel approaches can chip away at gun violence, and make a big difference

In an op-ed for the Chicago Sun-Times, Crime Lab Pritzker Director Jens Ludwig argues that when it comes to gun violence, we’ve been focused on the wrong solutions – a key insight from his new book, “Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence.”

New book challenges conventional wisdom on Chicago shootings
Media Mention
WGN TV
May 2025

New book challenges conventional wisdom on Chicago shootings

Crime Lab Pritzker Director Jens Ludwig joins WGN’s Mike Lowe for an interview to discuss his new book “Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence,” and how the book challenges our conventional wisdom about why shootings occur and how we can make progress on gun violence.