Unforgiving Places

Jens Ludwig is the Edwin A. and Betty L. Bergman Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. He is the Pritzker Director of the University of Chicago’s Crime Lab, codirector of the National Bureau of Economic Research’s working group on the economics of crime, elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, and a member of the Committee on Law and Justice of the National Academies of Science. His work has been featured in leading peer-reviewed scientific publications as well as national media like the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, NPR, and PBS NewsHour, among other outlets.

• PrefaceChapter 1: A New IdeaChapter 2: The Limits of Gun ControlChapter 3: The Origins of Wicked PeopleChapter 4: In Search of the Roots of ViolenceChapter 5: Vital StatisticsChapter 6: Behavioral Economics and Gun ViolenceChapter 7: Unforgiving PlacesChapter 8: Weight of EvidenceChapter 9: The Case for HopeAcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyIndex

"We have fashioned our criminal-justice system around the assumption that people commit violent crimes rationally and purposefully, and are aware of the consequences. But, much more often, a violent act is the result of a sudden burst of frustration or anger. Ludwig argues that our system fails to reckon with this reality, and he offers shrewd recommendations for change. We will all spend many decades, I’m sure, coming to terms with his formulation.”