Chicago stands as a vibrant and progressive city, world renowned for its architecture, neighborhoods, and breathtaking lakefront; for its museums, universities, medical centers and financial institutions; and for its flourishing arts and theater communities. But it also serves as a natural laboratory for the study of crime and criminal justice, with many opportunities to work with top-flight scholars, community organizations and a wide array of federal, state and local criminal justice organizations.

Chicago offers a rich and compelling history of crime and criminal justice. It has been at the center of research and reform in the juvenile and criminal justice fields for over a century. It is the home of the world's oldest juvenile court, Jane Addams Hull House, the Institute for Juvenile Research, and the country's largest unified court system. It was the site for groundbreaking community studies over the years that explored the relationship between the police and public, probed community reactions to crime, and examined how individual, family and community factors contribute to delinquency. Today, UIC researchers are studying issues as diverse as aggression and violence against women and children, the effectiveness of drug abuse education programs, and models for educating the police and public through a newly created regional community policing institute.