Chicago police use Papachristos’ theories to target those at highest risk & curb violence

The research of Harvard Robert Wood Johnson Health & Society Scholar program alum Andrew Papachristos, PhD, on social-network violence is featured in an article in the Chicago Sun Times. Papachristos and colleagues published a study in Social Science & Medicine that revealed that 70 percent of nonfatal injuries occur within networks containing 6 percent of the city’s population. Based on Papachristos’ social-network theories, the Chicago Police Department is generating lists of at-risk people, beat officers are paying closer attention to those individuals to try and prevent violence, and some social service intervention is being offered.