HFG Helps Launch CCJ Crime Trends Working Group

February 6, 2023 

(NEW YORK) —  With renewed focus on U.S. crime rates and the complex reporting systems that often impede understanding, the Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ), an HFG partner, is forming a Crime Trends Working Group to collect, analyze and decipher U.S crime data.

The group will “probe the nation’s changing crime trends, attempt to better understand them, and help strengthen crime-control initiatives  through improvements in the collection of reliable, timely crime data.“ (CCJ)

Composed of leaders from academia, advocacy, law enforcement, government, and the public health sector, the group will be chaired by University of Missouri – St. Louis Professor Emeritus Richard Rosenfeld, an HFG grantee and a former president of the American Society of Criminology.   

The Crime Trends Working Group will summarize its findings in regular bulletins, host a series of public online events, and produce a final report with recommendations for improving the national infrastructure for the reporting of crime statistics. The initiative follows CCJ’s Violent Crime Working Group, which also received support from HFG. 

“Our need for credible, comprehensive, timely crime trend data is greater than it’s been in 30 years, and the nation’s inability to produce it invites speculation and manipulation  and erodes public confidence in the justice system – and government more generally,”  said CCJ President and CEO Adam Gelb. “If we’re going to have responsible public dialogue and make faster progress toward safe communities, we need to have a much clearer picture of what’s happening and why.” 

In addition to HFG, the initiative is supported by Arnold Ventures, Georgia Power Foundation, Southern Company Foundation, Stand Together Trust,  #StartSmall, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. 

Additional information on the Crime Trends Working Group is available at CCJ.org.  

About The Council on Criminal Justice 

The Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ) is a nonpartisan invitational membership  organization and think tank that advances understanding of the criminal justice policy  challenges facing the nation and builds consensus for solutions based on facts, evidence,  and fundamental principles of justice.

About The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation

The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation is a leader in creating and disseminating knowledge on the nature, consequences, and reduction of violence in its many forms, including war, crime, and human aggression.

For more information contact: 

Nyeleti Honwana, Program Officer

info@hfg.org | 646.428.0971

The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation Welcomes Its 2023 Distinguished Scholars

January 31, 2023

(NEW YORK) – The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation is pleased to announce the selection of its 2023 HFG Distinguished Scholars. The ten leading researchers, chosen through a rigorous peer-review competition, are exploring the causes, manifestations, and control of violence around the world.

TOP FROM LEFT: CHRISTOPHER DAVEY, SURULOLA EKE, ELIZABETH KIBUKA-MUSOKE, CHARLES LARRATT-SMITH, JUAN LUNA, AILA MATANOCK, CLAUDINE KURADUSENGE-MCLEOD, DIANA PEEL, YANIV VOLLER, KARIN WACHTER.

In selecting the awardees, highest priority was given to research that addresses urgent, contemporary problems of violence.

“The 2023 HFG Distinguished Scholars, working on three continents, are embarking on research to clarify the causes and dynamics of grave violence. In some cases, the violence happens one victim at a time; in others an entire ethnic group is targeted” said Director of Research, Joel Wallman. “Intimate partner violence, organized crime, paramilitary militias, and anti-immigrant aggression are all problems squarely within the purview of the foundation. We’re optimistic about the knowledge these scholars will generate and its potential for reducing violence.”

The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation is a leader in creating and disseminating knowledge on the nature, consequences, and reduction of violence in its many forms, including war, crime, and human aggression.


2023 Scholars and Research Topics

Christopher Davey (Clark University) and Claudine Kuradusenge-McLeod (American University). Erasing Refugees: How Camps became Killing Fields in the First Congo War

Surulola Eke (Political Science, Queen’s University). Towards a Constructivist Grounded Theory: Understanding the Transnational Production of Anti-Immigrant Sentiments in the Digital Age in Africa

Charles Larratt-Smith (Political Science, Tecnológico de Monterrey). Forging Informal Citizenship in the Shadow of the State: Armed Non-State Actors and Migrant Incorporation in the Colombian and Mexican Borderlands

Juan Luna (Political Science, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile). Organized Crime, State Crises, and the Consolidation of Violent Democracies

Aila Matanock (Political Science, University of California, Berkeley). Inviting Intervention: Statebuilding by Delegating Security

Diana Peel and Elizabeth Kibuka Musoke (Criminology, Makerere University). From Domestic Abuse to Death Row: The Experience of Women Who Kill Their Intimate Partners in Uganda

Yaniv Voller (Political Science, University of Kent). Pro-Government Militias as Social and Political Actors and Their Impact on Governance and Security Orders

Karin Wachter (Social Work, Arizona State University). Pre- and Post-Resettlement Drivers of Intimate Partner Violence Among Afghan Refugees in the United States

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