The Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) is a research and education organization dedicated to conducting academic quality research on the relationship between laws regulating the ownership or use of guns, crime, and public safety; educating the public on the results of such research; and supporting other organizations, projects, and initiatives that are organized and operated for similar purposes. It has 501(C)(3) status, and does not accept donations from gun or ammunition makers or organizations such as the NRA or any other organizations involved in the gun control debate on either side of the issue.  Nor do we accept donations from organizations involved in the debate over illegal immigration.

Our goal is to provide an objective and accurate scientific evaluation of both the costs and benefits of gun ownership as well as policing activities.

Goals

CPRC’s primary goals are to:

• Advance the scientific understanding of policing as well as the relationship between laws regulating the ownership or use of guns, crime, and public safety.

• Improve the awareness and knowledge of this scientific understanding among the public, journalists, and policymakers.

• Enhance public safety through these scientific advances and improved awareness and knowledge.

Core Activities

CPRC accomplishes these goals through a core set of activities that include:

• Conducting and publishing academic quality research on the relationship between laws regulating the ownership or use of guns, crime and public safety.

• Supporting affiliated academics in conducting and publishing similar research by means such as providing direct financial support, sharing data, and providing technical assistance.

• Educating the public, journalists, and policy makers on the results of research on these issues by means such as books, public lectures, newspaper columns, academic seminars, and information briefings.

• Making research and data available to researchers, the public, policy makers, and journalists by maintaining a comprehensive website.

• Engaging in other related activities consistent with the mission and goals of CPRC.

President

CPRC was founded by Dr. John R. Lott, Jr., an economist and a world-recognized expert on guns and crime.  Lott recently served in the Trump administration as Senior Advisor for Research and Statistics in the Office of Justice Programs for the US Department of Justice and then the Senior Advisor for Research and Statistics in the Office of Legal Policy for the US Department of Justice. Lott has held research or teaching positions at various academic institutions including the University of Chicago, Yale University, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, and Rice University, and was the chief economist at the United States Sentencing Commission during 1988-1989. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from UCLA.

Nobel laureate Milton Friedman noted: “John Lott has few equals as a perceptive analyst of controversial public policy issues.”

Lott is a prolific author for both academic and popular publications. He has published over 100 articles in peer-reviewed academic journals and written ten books, including “More Guns, Less Crime,” “The Bias Against Guns,” and “Freedomnomics.” His most recent books are “Dumbing Down the Courts: How politics keeps the smartest judges off the bench” and “Gun Control Myths: How politicians, the media, and botched “studies” have twisted the facts on gun control.”

He served as a statistical expert for USA Today in the Florida recount after the 2000 presidential election and wrote the statistical report for the minority report by the US Civil Rights Commission after that election.

He has been one of the most productive and cited economists in the world (during 1969 to 2000 he ranked 26th worldwide in terms of quality adjusted total academic journal output, 4th in terms of total research output, and 86th in terms of citations). Among economics, business and law professors, criminologists, and other researchers his research is currently the 14th most downloaded in the world. He is also a frequent writer of op-eds.

Lott can be reached at johnrlott@crimeresearch.org.