HFG Welcomes Its 2026 Emerging Scholars September 16, 2026 (NEW YORK) — Today, The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation announced the selection of its 2026 HFG Emerging Scholars. The nine doctoral candidates—selected through a rigorous evaluation process—are conducting research that increases understanding of problems of violence around the world. The scholars are completing dissertations on a range of important topics, including school shooting incidents in the United States, anti-minority vigilante violence in India, and the governance of displaced populations and refugees in Lebanon and Turkey. FIRST ROW: KARTHIKA BABY SUJATHA, JUDITH HOPPERMANN, LINDSAY J. LERNER, NAOMI NERO, ENRIQUE OLIVARES-PELAYO; SECOND ROW: MAYRA ORTIZ OCANA, EMMA RIKKEN, AARUSHI SHAH, YASH SHARMA “Does cattle insurance reduce or increase violence between herders? What differentiates a school shooting that occurs from one that was prevented? What is it about psychopathic personality traits that elevates the risk of committing aggression and violence? How do prisons promote conflict between racial and ethnic groups? Each of our 2026 Emerging Scholars—all exceptional doctoral candidates—is asking a question whose answer will, we hope, help to reduce the misery caused by violence, as Harry Guggenheim intended in creating this foundation,” said HFG Director of Research Joel Wallman. The awards are given to promising researchers in their final year of writing a doctoral dissertation that examines a salient aspect of violence. In selecting the awardees, HFG prioritizes research that addresses urgent, contemporary problems. 2026 Scholars and Research Topics Karthika Baby Sujatha (United Nations University – Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology & Maastricht University) Understanding and Altering Men’s Attitudes, Tolerance, and Behaviors Towards Intimate Partner Violence: A Field Experiment in Kerala, India Judith Hoppermann (SOAS, University of London) Governing Displacement, Contesting the State: Armed Transnational Movements, Refugees and Political Reordering in the Syrian Borderlands Lindsay J. Lerner (John Jay College of Criminal Justice & The CUNY Graduate Center) Advancing School Safety: Comparing Completed & Averted School Shootings Naomi Nero (Georgetown University) Valuing and Devaluing Others: Identifying Mechanisms Relevant to Predicting and Preventing Interpersonal Violence in Psychopathy Enrique Olivares-Pelayo (University of Arizona) Running Raza: An Ethnography from Inside Arizona’s PrisonsMayra Ortiz Ocana (University of Notre Dame) Gatekeeping Justice: Criminal Epistemologies in Prosecuting Organized Crime Violence Emma Rikken (Wageningen University & Research) Drought, Rain, and Raiders: Testing Insurance and Edutainment Against Conflict in East Africa Aarushi Shah (Columbia University) Crime and Replenishment? An Ethnographic Study of the Remedial Work of a Domestic Violence Court in New York Yash Sharma (University of Cincinnati) Majoritarianism and its Discontents: Violence, Mobilization and Resistance in Contemporary India 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: Halima Gikandi, Senior Communications Manager info@hfg.org | 646.428.0973
Which Crimes Do Americans Fear the Most? A New Report from the Council on Criminal Justice Examines Public Fears About Crime August 20, 2026 In August, the Council on Criminal Justice released a new report examining the public fears of different criminal offenses, and the individual characteristics, neighborhoods, broader worries, and other factors associated with those fears. The report was based on an online survey of 2,000 people and found that among 27 specific crimes, respondents worried most about becoming victims of identity theft, residential burglary, and online theft. The women surveyed reported higher levels of worry than men for nearly every offense, and respondents were more worried about a family member being victimized than themselves. “Understanding what influences fear of crime is important for improving people’s quality of life and informing public safety policy” wrote the report’s authors Ernesto Lopez, senior research specialist at CCJ, and Amanda Graham, an associate professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Texas State University. Visit www.counciloncj.com to read the full report, which was published with support from The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation.
“Murder and other crime rates are falling across the map” according to a new report from the Council on Criminal Justice July 23, 2026 On July 23, the Council on Criminal Justice released its 2026 mid-year crime trends report, which found that homicide rates dropped by 18 percent across 30 American cities in the first half of 2026, when compared to the same period in 2025. Rates of other forms of violent crime, including gun assault and robbery, also decreased. The findings of the report, authored by CCJ Senior Research Specialist Ernesto Lopez and Regional Justice Information Service Analyst Bobby Boxerman, contribute to the ongoing historic decline in homicide across the United States. “Murder and other crime rates are falling across the map, in cities with different political leadership, housing and economic conditions, policing and prosecution strategies, violence reduction models, and levels of federal enforcement activity,” said Council on Criminal Justice President and CEO Adam Gelb in a press release about the report. “Local policies and programs surely matter, but the striking consistency of the decline suggests that macro-level forces are exerting enormous influence as well” he continued. In September, the Council on Criminal Justice will convene dozens of researchers for a two-day summit to examine the potential factors driving the historic homicide decline. Since 2023, HFG has supported CCJ’s Crime Trends Working Group, which collects and analyzes data on crime in the United States. Visit www.counciloncj.com to read the full report.
