Crime Prevention

  • A Call to Simplify and Broaden Expungement Laws

    A Call to Simplify and Broaden Expungement Laws

    Formerly incarcerated individuals are often released only to find social and economic barriers harsher than the penalty itself. The internet age makes this problem even worse given the ease of accessing criminal records. Recognizing these barriers, most jurisdictions have enacted laws that permit individuals who show good behavior to obtain…

  • Examining the Impact of Minimum Wage and EITC on Criminal Recidivism

    Examining the Impact of Minimum Wage and EITC on Criminal Recidivism

    Recidivism, a person’s relapse into criminal behavior, is a fundamental challenge in criminal justice. While the issue is widely discussed, few solutions have been shown to keep previous offenders from returning to criminal behavior. Part of the issue is the sheer scope of the problem: A 2005 study tracked approximately…

  • How Nonprofit Organizations Make Their Communities Safer

    How Nonprofit Organizations Make Their Communities Safer

    In 2016, the FBI reported a 4.1 percent increase in violent crime from the previous year. With more than 1.2 million incidences, that report claims that cities like Chicago, Baltimore, and Las Vegas—cities that have all struggled with pervasive crime for decades—are driving the recent increase in violent crime in…

  • More Questions than Answers: A Review of Gun Violence in Chicago

    More Questions than Answers: A Review of Gun Violence in Chicago

    The University of Chicago Crime Lab released a report in January 2017 that details the sudden spike in gun violence that persisted throughout 2016. The Crime Lab analyzed key data in an attempt to discover what triggered the dramatic increase in gun-related crime. Many of the findings were not surprising: Gun violence…

  • Live Fast, Die Young, Defend Your Status: The Code of Retaliation

    Live Fast, Die Young, Defend Your Status: The Code of Retaliation

    A harsh childhood can lead to a life strategy that condones violence in response to status threats. An economic game shows that such a worldview is linked to heightened envy in unfair situations.

  • Bullet Proof: The Role of Policy and Data in Gun Control

    Bullet Proof: The Role of Policy and Data in Gun Control

    The Director of the Violence Inquest for Solutions and Alliance (VISA) discusses the slow process of changing the culture of gun violence

  • Using Small Groups and Sports to Reduce Youth Violence in Chicago

    Using Small Groups and Sports to Reduce Youth Violence in Chicago

    Can social and cognitive skills developed through in-school and after-school programming help reduce violence?