“Thinking, Fast and Slow? Some Field Experiments to Reduce Crime and Dropout in Chicago”

**Please RSVP by Tuesday, October 6th to https://cupop.formstack.com/forms/rsvp. Lunch will be provided for those who RSVP and attend seminar at the School of Social Work.

Abstract: We present the result of three large-scale randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of interventions carried out on the south and west sides of Chicago. All the interventions involve using cognitive behavioral therapy-based programming to improve the outcomes of low-income youth. Two of our RCTs test a program called Becoming a Man (BAM) developed by Chicago-area non-profit Youth Guidance; the first, carried out in 2009-10, shows that participation improved schooling outcomes and reduced violent-crime arrests by 44%, while the second RCT in 2013-14 shows that participation reduced overall arrests by 31%. The third RCT was carried out in the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC) in 2009-11 and shows reductions in return rates of 21%. We discuss the possibility that the programs work by reducing automatic behavior. While generally adaptive, automaticity – responding to situations without conscious deliberation – is sometimes deployed in situations where it is ill-suited. Although this is equally true for all youths, disadvantaged youths face greater situational variability. Improving decision-making by helping these youth make slower, more reflective decisions may contribute to these programs’ success in addressing negative outcomes like crime and school failure.

Speaker Bio: Sara Heller, is an assistant professor of Criminology at the University of Pennsylvania. She studies interventions to reduce crime and improve other life outcomes among disadvantaged youth. She uses large-scale experiments to isolate the causal effects of a variety of programs, including cognitive behavioral therapy-based interventions and summer jobs. She holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy form the University of Chicago, a M.P.P. from Georgetown, and a B.A. in Psychology from Harvard.

For additional information regarding the Fall 2015 CPRC Seminar series please visit: http://cupop.columbia.edu/events/seminar-series/cprc-seminars