May 9, 2025 12:15pm CT
Jens Ludwig, Ph.D., and Christian Mitchell.
(image from www.familyactionnetwork.net)
“Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence,” a conversation with Jens Ludwig, Ph.D., and Christian Mitchell, will be held on Wednesday, May 14, beginning at 7:00pm, in the Evanston Township High School auditorium, located at 1600 Dodge Ave. The event is free and open to the public, suitable for ages 12 and up. No registration is required.
In 2007, economist Jens Ludwig moved to the South Side of Chicago to research two big questions: why does gun violence happen, and is there anything we can do about it? Almost two decades later, the answers aren’t what he expected. Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence is Ludwig’s revelatory portrait of gun violence in America’s most famously maligned city.
Disproving the popular narrative that shootings are the calculated acts of malicious or desperate people, Ludwig shows how most shootings grow out of a more fleeting source: interpersonal conflict, especially arguments. By examining why some arguments turn tragic while others don’t, Ludwig shows gun violence to be more circumstantial—and more solvable—than our traditional approaches lead us to believe.
Drawing on decades of research and Ludwig’s immersive fieldwork in Chicago, Unforgiving Places is a breakthrough work at the cutting edge of behavioral economics. As Ludwig shows, progress on gun violence doesn’t require America to solve every other social problem first; it only requires that we find ways to intervene in the places and the ten-minute windows where human behaviors predictably go haywire.
Ludwig is the Edwin A. and Betty L. Bergman Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy. He is the Pritzker Director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab, co-director 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.
Ludwig will be in conversation with Christian Mitchell, Vice President for Civic Engagement for the University of Chicago, overseeing the Office of Civic Engagement, including state and local government relations, as well as the Office of Business Diversity and Commercial Real Estate Operations.
Guests should plan to arrive at least 15 minutes before the start of the event to find parking and seats. Accessible seating is available in the auditorium. Parking is available in the lot across from the main entrance (Entrance 1), off of Dodge Avenue, or in the lots behind the high school. Parking is also available along Dodge Avenue according to posted City of Evanston signs.
The May 14 event will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel. For more information, including a list of sponsors for the event, visit the Family Action Network website.
