Understanding Recent Trends in Crime and Violence

Featuring: Jeff Asher and Christian Bolden

This deep dive into crime trends and gang violence was moderated by LEL Senior Counsel Ruby Nidiry and Ames Grawert, a Senior Counsel in the Justice Program at the Brennan Center. It featured two guest experts: Jeff Asher, a nationally renowned crime data analyst, and Christian Bolden, a criminologist and expert on gang culture who conducts trainings on the topic for the FBI and has authored a book about his own experiences in gangs and prison. LEL Executive Director Ron Serpas set the stage with introductory remarks. We then jumped into a conversation with our speakers that, among other things, offered insights into current national crime trends and what the data does and does not tell us, the evolution of gang structures in recent years, and the impact of social media on crime spikes and gang operations.