View all Events

2024 George L. Kelling Lecture: Re-Grounding Criminology in Reality

20
Wednesday November 2024
Starts at 6pm

Speakers

Anthony A. Braga Director, Crime and Justice Policy Lab and Jerry Lee Professor of Criminology, University of Pennsylvania
John M. MacDonald Professor of Criminology and Sociology, University of Pennsylvania
David Weisburd Distinguished Professor and Executive Director, Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy, George Mason University
Hannah E. Meyers Fellow | Director, Policing & Public Safety @HannahElka

Over the past decade, criminology, like many academic fields, has drifted away from rigorous science rooted in evidence. Ideological narratives—about race, identity, and the expendability of the criminal justice system—have gained so much dominance that bias has crept into university departments, think tanks, and even groups like the American Society of Criminology. This bias doesn't happen in a vacuum, and the net result harms the safety of our most vulnerable communities—and creates agencies and strategies that are less efficient, resourced, and innovative. 

Please join us for the 2024 George L. Kelling Lecture featuring three of America's leading criminologists, who will discuss what this ideological sway looks like from inside the academic world. They will discuss how this translates into the types of research that gets funded and promoted, how this impacts public safety, and how criminologists, practitioners, policymakers, and citizens can move criminology back toward a scientific grounding.

SUGGESTED READING:

Photo by alengo/Getty Images