Jens Ludwig
Pritzker Director
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Expertise
Book release coming April 2025 – Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence.
Learn more.
Jens Ludwig is the Edwin A. and Betty L. Bergman Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago, Pritzker Director of the University of Chicago’s Crime Lab, and co-director of the Education Lab. He helped found the Crime Lab and Education Lab to work closely with the public sector to solve pressing social problems. These partnerships have led to important policy changes in cities around the country, including Chicago and New York, and have been featured in national news outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, PBS News Hour, and National Public Radio, and the scientific basis for these policies have been published in leading peer-reviewed journals like the American Economic Review, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, Science, and Nature. In 2012 he was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science.
Policy Brief: Understanding and Improving Early Intervention Systems
This policy brief is a summary of a research paper entitled “Predicting Police Misconduct” by Greg Stoddard, Dylan Fitzpatrick, and Jens Ludwig.
NBER Working Paper: Predicting Police Misconduct
This paper outlines the results of research on over a decade of Chicago Police Department data that shows it is possible to predict risk of on-duty and off-duty misconduct, allowing police departments to prioritize training and supportive resources.
Empirical Analysis of Prediction Mistakes in New York City Pretrial Data
2024 Video: Community Violence Intervention Leadership Academy (CVILA) Inaugural Cohort
Watch our latest video about the inaugural cohort of the CVILA.
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.
Strategic Decision Support Centers (SDSCs)
The Crime Lab and the City of Chicago joined forces to implement data-driven management strategies that address gun violence in some of the city’s most heavily affected communities.
Officer Support System (OSS)
The Crime Lab partnered with the Chicago Police Department (CPD) to develop the Officer Support System (OSS), a next-generation, data-driven early intervention system to promote officers’ long-term mental health and wellness.
Becoming a Man
Youth Guidance’s Becoming a Man (BAM) uses insights from behavioral science to help youth navigate high-stakes situations.
Latest Updates
David Greising: CPD’s consent decree will be worth the cost if reforms are effectively implemented
Chicago Tribune columnist David Greising cites Crime Lab Director Jens Ludwig and Crime Lab research on police reform.
Welcome Katie Hill, our new Executive Director
Read the announcement of the Crime Lab’s new Executive Director.
Dominant technology is harming women, and alternatives are starved for resources
In his latest op-ed, Crime Lab Faculty Director Jens Ludwig details how the tech world has exploited and harmed women and argues for investment in technologies that promote social good.
