The Jeff-alytics Podcast

What happens when the people shaping national crime policy don’t actually have the data they need?

In this episode, I sit down with Rachel Harmon, law professor at the University of Virginia who previously served as a senior policy adviser for criminal justice for the White House Domestic Policy Council. 

Rachel provides a rare inside look at how crime policy really gets made, breaking down  what it’s like working inside the White Ho...

Ken Dilanian is a seasoned journalist covering the Justice Department and FBI,  and in this episode he shares his insights on the evolving landscape of covering those agencies. We talk about crime data, the challenges of media coverage in 2026, the impact of political shifts on justice institutions, and a whole lot more in this jam-packed conversation.  

There are few journalists in the country with a better front row seat to the Ju...

New Orleans has had one of the nation's highest murder rates every year for decades. Since 2023, however, violent crime has dropped sharply — and in this episode, I talk with Mayor Helena Moreno about crime and criminal justice in New Orleans. We discuss the city's difficulties, like a severe budget crisis and the ongoing challenge of abysmally low sexual assault clearance rates, as well as the city's successes. 

Mayo...

I talk a lot about crime analysis and analyzing crime data, but I realized that I’ve never actually talked to a crime analyst yet. To correct this, I’m talking with Carlee Ruiz, a former crime analyst and policing researcher, discussing how she bridges the gap between academic research and real-world law enforcement through her platform, Police Research Hub.

Carlee highlights how valuable evidence-based insights are often inaccessib...

Today I am talking with Adam Gelb, President and CEO of the Council on Criminal Justice. Adam started CCJ in 2019 with a vision of bringing together as many different viewpoints as possible from across the political aisle to find common ground and make smart, evidence-backed policy recommendations.

For this conversation, we talk about why murder has fallen so dramatically over the last few years, how you build a sustainable organiza...

Baltimore is typically seen as the poster child for high crime with the city consistently having one of the nation’s highest murder rates. Things have been changing in Baltimore in the last few years though as the city has had a nearly 60 percent reduction in murder 3since 2022. It is a remarkable story of solving gun violence using every tool in the toolkit. 

To understand this amazing turnaround , I talked to Baltimore M...

I thought about doing this episode very soon after starting this podcast. Ferne Pearlstein and Bob Edwards made a documentary more than a decade ago called “The Last Laugh” which talked about how comedy can tackle a tragedy as immense as the Holocaust and what lessons that might suggest for effectively communicating about crime. They interviewed basically every comedy legend you could think of and it’s an incredible film that will ...

Have you heard about the police department in Utah where report drafting AI interpreted footage from an officer’s body camera of The Princess and the Frog playing in the background of an incident to mean the officer had morphed into a frog? 

AI has come a long way in the last few years but it still isn’t perfect. Within AI is the potential for revolutionary disruption of traditional processes, but there is also the danger of relying...

Today’s guest is Galen Druke, host of the GD Politics podcast and one of the smartest voices out there talking about the intersection of politics and data. This episode’s mission was simple: do the most terrifying thing imaginable for your intrepid podcast host and try to talk about the role of politics on how we talk about and perceive crime. 

There’s a national election coming up in November and we discuss whether the nation’s cri...

Today, I'm talking with my friend Jennifer Doleac about how research makes better choices in criminal justice policy possible. This is very evident in her new book (out this week!) called 'The Science of Second Chances' which I'd highly recommend as an engaging, approachable read on a critical topic.   

We talk about her transition from academia to Arnold Ventures and the importance of evidence-based policy in cr...

I started tracking national murder trends in 2015 with a spreadsheet and data from around 25 random agencies that published at different cadences. That spreadsheet became a Google Sheet which became a dashboard with around 100 agencies with murder data which became the Real-Time Crime Index with seven categories of crime data from around 550 agencies nationwide. 

A sample of that size and quality is only possible because of massive ...

As the District Attorney in New Orleans, Jason Williams is faced with a nearly impossible task. He must balance the job of being the prosecutor in a city that has had one of the nation’s highest murder rates for more than 30 years with the imperative of righting the wrongs of an office that has not always operated fairly. 

Jason led the New Orleans City Council’s Criminal Justice Committee when I was a public safety consultant for t...

In this conversation, Jens Ludwig discusses his extensive research on gun violence, particularly focusing on youth violence and the role of the University of Chicago Crime Lab. He emphasizes the importance of using data and behavioral science to understand and address the root causes of gun violence. Ludwig also critiques media representations of gun violence and shares insights from his book 'Unforgiving Places,' which e...

In this engaging conversation, criminologist Jerry Ratcliffe shares his unique journey from a police officer to an academic specializing in policing. He discusses the importance of evidence-based policing, the challenges of communicating research to practitioners, and the evolving perceptions of crime trends in the U.S. Ratcliffe also highlights significant studies, including the Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment and his own...

In this conversation, Dara Lind discusses her extensive background in immigration policy and reporting, the complexities of the U.S. immigration system, and the often misunderstood relationship between immigration and crime. She emphasizes the importance of understanding the historical context of immigration policy, the judicial responses to enforcement actions, and the public's perception of immigrants in relation to crime. L...

Today, Jeff talks with Atlantic County prosecutor William Reynolds about building an efficient, effective, and fair criminal justice system in one of the most interesting places in America: Atlantic City. This conversation explores the significant reduction in homicides in Atlantic County from 2012 to 2025, highlighting the strategies and reforms implemented to achieve this decline. The discussion delves into the factors contributi...

In this engaging conversation, former Bureau of Justice Statistics director Alex Piquero shares his journey from playing in a rock band to becoming a prominent figure in criminology and the Bureau of Justice Statistics. We chat about the importance of crime data, particularly the National Crime Victimization Survey, and the challenges of public perception versus reality in crime trends. Piquero also highlights the intersection of s...

This was a banner year for the Jeff-alytics universe and it's time to recap it! In this episode, host Jeff Asher reflects on three conversations this year that really resonated. This episode highlights the gap between public perception and actual data and emphasizes the need for diverse perspectives in shaping our understanding of crime and public safety. The episode features insights from various guests–Michael Lewis (Storyte...

In this conversation, Jeff Asher and Ifetayo Harvey explore the misconceptions surrounding crime trends, the importance of context in data interpretation, and the stigma associated with drug use. They discuss the need for policymakers to experience the realities of justice-impacted families and the significance of using person-first language. Additionally, Jeff and Ifetayo highlight gaps in data collection within the justice system...