Jens Ludwig
Pritzker Director
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Expertise
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.
Brookings Institution Commentary: Making the invisible epidemic visible
Using new data from a large urban trauma center in Chicago, we document substantial under-reporting of domestic violence at the time of receiving medical care.
Technical Appendix: Is electronic monitoring contributing to gun violence?
This supplementary technical appendix complements the op-ed titled “Is electronic monitoring contributing to gun violence?”, written by Jens Ludwig and Ashna Arora. Due to limitations in space in the article, numerous details and sensitivity analyses were excluded from the published version. These additional details are provided here for a more comprehensive understanding of the topic.
NBER Working Paper: Body-Worn Cameras in Policing: Benefits and Costs
This working paper dives into what we know about the benefits of body worn cameras and how those benefits
compare to the costs of this new technology.
Scope Challenges To Social Impact
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.
New York City Release Assessment
The Crime Lab partnered with New York City leaders to update its pretrial release assessment to be more accurate and equitable with the aim of helping judges reduce pretrial incarceration by identifying the vast majority of low-risk defendants who can be released without bail or other pretrial conditions.
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.
Becoming a Man
Youth Guidance’s Becoming a Man (BAM) uses insights from behavioral science to help youth navigate high-stakes situations.
Latest Updates
Ashna Arora and Jens Ludwig: Is electronic monitoring contributing to gun violence? Here’s a look at the data.
Crime Lab Pritzker Director Jens Ludwig and Research Director Ashna Arora provide a deep-dive on electronic monitoring data and gun violence in this piece.