Gun Violence
In cities across America, communities face high rates of gun violence and significant harm caused by the criminal justice system – both of which disproportionately impact communities of color.
Our nation’s public safety crisis is a gun violence crisis, and for some communities, this crisis is worse than ever before. In fact, in 2020, Black Chicagoans experienced more homicides per resident than any year on record. This violence was heavily concentrated: in 2020, the gun homicide rate in Chicago’s four most violent police districts was 26 times higher than in the four safest police districts. In 1991, the rate for those same districts was 13 times higher — meaning the safety gap has doubled in Chicago’s most vulnerable neighborhoods since the 1990s.
There is reason for hope that we can turn the tide: From the peak of the early ‘90s to 2019, Los Angeles and New York have slashed their homicide rates by 77% and 88%, respectively.
The Crime Lab works with cities and community-based groups to generate evidence on interventions that prevent gun violence, including increasing public access to gun violence data, implementing behavioral science-informed interventions, and connecting individuals with employment, housing, and other supports.
Our evaluation of READI Chicago found that participants referred to the program by outreach workers in their community were 79% less likely to be arrested for shootings and homicides.
In partnership with the City of Chicago and dozens of community organizations, the Crime Lab created the Violence Reduction Dashboard, which led the nation in providing unprecedented public access to near real-time data on gun violence.
CVI Leadership Academy
The Community Violence Intervention Leadership Academy (CVILA) is a first-of-its-kind program to train community violence intervention leaders from across America.
Policing Leadership Academy
The Policing Leadership Academy (PLA) is designed to increase safety and fairness in America’s most violent neighborhoods.
Community Safety Leadership Academies
The Community Safety Leadership Academies, composed of the Policing Leadership Academy and Community Violence Intervention Leadership Academy, aim to educate police and community violence intervention leaders.
Supporting Enlace Chicago and New Life Centers with Data-Driven Proactive Outreach
Using a data-driven approach, the Crime Lab provides individual referrals to help outreach organizations Enlace Chicago and New Life Centers target their services to people who may be at the highest risk for gun violence involvement in the near future.
Coming April 21, 2025 – Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence
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
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
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
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
Combining Mentorship and Therapy, Program Aims to Prevent Teen Violence Before It Happens
Matt Masterson for WTTW News covers the Crime Lab’s study of Choose to Change, a six-month intervention that combines “near-peer” mentorship and cognitive behavioral therapy to help steer teens away from violence and get them back on a more successful track.
In Chicago, cognitive behavioral therapy shows promise curbing youth violence
NPR’s Meg Anderson reported on Chicago’s Choose to Change (C2C), a program that combines trauma-informed therapy with wraparound supports and aims to reduce youth violence. The Crime Lab found that the program can effectively and sustainably reduce violence involvement and the likelihood of being arrested.
Coming April 21, 2025 – Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence
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.
