𝙼𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚗 𝙺𝚊𝚗𝚐

I wrote for @aeon.co about how early violence can be a bad teacher, but the past need not define the present. With support, safety, and patience, the capacity of our minds to learn anew is ordinary. aeon.co/essays/early...

New @aeon.co piece out today by my favorite writer / academic / wife @mkang.bsky.social aeon.co/essays/early...

For many Americans raised in deprived neighbourhoods, gun violence has fundamentally shaped their inner behavioural scripts to anticipate danger everywhere, perpetuating the cycle – but what can be learned can be unlearned, with programmes designed to help rewrite these scripts buff.ly/ghYgRJZ

@jhu.edu School of Government and Policy is hiring multiple TT faculty in soc, poli sci, law, public admin, history, philosophy, CS, engineering, econ. In DC, due Oct 25. Founding cohort; you'd shape what the school becomes! apply.interfolio.com/193492 apply.interfolio.com/193579

We think of them in separate categories, but police officers and soldiers share something essential with cartel members: 'They are all specialists in violence,' the sociologist @rgzepeda writes. In this incisive Essay, Gil explores what drives young men to pursue a career in violence

Today @aeon.co published me an essay I wrote with the main insight of my research: The violence specialists. They are workers workers in a trade, regardless of it’s legality. They can be gangsters or soldiers. And there are aspects that makes this occupation attractive. aeon.co/essays/organ...

Sharing some good news 🎉 This month Im starting a 3yr Research Fellowship at @jhucarey.bsky.social's Tech & Society Initiative. Ill be based in downtown DC so if youre ever in the city, say hello! Oh and my wife @mkang.bsky.social is also here–– new AP at the JHU's new School of Govt & Policy! 🤩

A strategy targeting those driving gun violence in Baltimore's hardest-hit district cut shootings and homicides by a third in 18 months, with no rise in overall arrests, from Kapustin, Chalfin, Biddle, Wade, Khade, Layana, Struhl, and Braga www.nber.org/papers/w35292

Finished my PhD & feeling infinitely grateful. @bstewart.bsky.social told me in my 1st year that the PhD is "a lesson in self-mastery." That it was. What a privilege to have 6 years to discipline my thinking while researching violence in America alongside some of the most brilliant & generous ppl.

Commentary: Chicago recorded its fewest violent crimes in 60 years last year. That’s the good news. The bad news is what’s happening so far this year. While other cities continue reducing crime, in Chicago, homicides are actually up 7%. And summer is here, a time when violence spikes.

Being a victim of violence rewires how you see and engage with the world. I wrote a piece in the @chicagotribune.com on how that cycle forms and how cognitive behavioral interventions help break it. Read here: shorturl.at/M4uPo

Rio’s Rocinha community challenges the assumption that places lacking strong state presence are ungoverned. Informal social control through community networks, norms, and non-state authorities helps organize daily life for tens of thousands of residents.

@jessicacalarco.com hit the nail on the head in her @pnas.org editorial about why the trend towards data transparency can be complicated for qualitative research--a dilemma that came to head in our recent PNAS paper on violence. I recommend giving it a read. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

It’s been an incredible ride @princeton.edu @patricksharkey.bsky.social

Deep breath. I'm honored and excited to join the faculty of America's oldest research university, Johns Hopkins. I'll start this summer as a full professor, one of the founding faculty at the brand-new School of Government and Policy. We're building something unique & important, even historic.

Yesterday, those who teach Intro to Sociology at Florida colleges (as opposed to universities) received a ready-made curriculum from the state and were ordered to teach it. Yes, you read that correctly. The *state* is enforcing a curriculum on college profs, complete w/ the following restrictions:

Excited to share that I'll be joining Johns Hopkins School of Government and Policy as an Assistant Professor this summer! Looking forward to moving to DC and the work ahead. Thankful to my amazing partner, friends, family, and mentors who have helped me get here.

Update your syllabus and stay on the frontier - it will increase your students’ wages. Epic work by my colleagues @barbarabiasi.com and @profsongma.bsky.social #linkoftheday www.barbarabiasi.com/uploads/1/0/...

Fantastic! Theory in violence interventions is often weak and simplistic. Qualitative work with programme participants is the way to improve.

How does a violence intervention program actually work? We interviewed 99 READI participants to find out. Key finding: They came for the job, stayed for the therapy. crimelab.uchicago.edu/resources/wh...

“True scholars often work in loneliness, compelled to find reward in the awareness that they have made valuable, even beautiful, contributions to the cumulative structure of human knowledge, whether anyone knows it at the time or not.” — George F. Kennan

"It is not hyperbole to say that the future of higher education in America requires that every university reject it. If any schools capitulate, the pressure will be enormous on all to fold. The only solution is solidarity & collective action against this effort at federal control over higher ed."

As Chicago’s gangs have weakened, it’s become easier for members to leave their groups but harder to avoid violence. My research in Criminology reveals why. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Check out our latest @vitalcitynyc.bsky.social piece on the role of states in regulating the proliferation of guns throughout the U.S. www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/sta...

When it comes to dealing with illegal guns in the US, the Pareto Principle reminds us that the vast majority are supplied by a small number of bad dealers. So what can we do? Find out in my new @vitalcitynyc.bsky.social piece, out today in a brand new issue. www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/the...

Excited to see my essay "Gun Culture Then & Now" appear today in a special issue of @vitalcitynyc.bsky.social. Thanks to @mkang.bsky.social for making this issue happen. Please read and share - the whole issue is packed with wonderful essays about the past, present, and future of guns in America.

Check out the @vitalcitynyc.bsky.social issue on gun supply! This volume is a tour de force on how the U.S. got to have so many guns and what can be done about it. Thanks to @everytown.bsky.social for their support. www.vitalcitynyc.org/issues/issue...

Guns don’t just enable violence; they produce the “shooter” as a durable social identity. Our hidden gem of the week details how the collapse of corporate gang governance and social media’s permanent archives turn youth violence into lifelong stigma. By @mkang.bsky.social buff.ly/98uFxpT

Thanks @the-syllabus.bsky.social for featuring my paper, and @benhr.bsky.social for the heads up. What a cool honor! Working paper here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

As we mourn today's Annunciation Church shooting, the reporting and photojournalism are almost too much to take in; sharing this gift link for those seeking good local coverage from Minneapolis. www.startribune.com/minneapolis-...

Thank you @njgvrc.bsky.social for your invaluable support for my dissertation research!

Join us on August 8 at UIC for this year’s Junior Theorists Symposium (JTS)! #asa (In suppressed voice) Also it’d be great if folks can make a small donation so that we can buy coffee for everyone ☕️

On Juneteenth, we celebrate freedom and recommit ourselves to the work that remains undone. We remember that even in the darkest hours, there is cause to hope for tomorrow’s light.

We’ve updated the FSS proxy for household gun ownership to include 2020–2023. The dataset now spans 1949–2023 and includes state-level estimates of gun ownership, homicide, firearm homicide, and suicide rates. dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtm...

If you're interested in understanding why honour killings happen, my paper with @aksoyundan.bsky.social has some answers. We also suggest ways to reduce them: journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10....

📢 My paper w Aron Szekely on honour-based violence is published online (Open Access): journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.... We explain this puzzling phenomenon applying game-theory and testing it using large-scale data on norms and actual femicides. @sriucl.bsky.social @uclsociology.bsky.social

6 yrs ago an economist asked if I wanted to help him write a book about gun violence. It seemed crazy and fun. Working on this book w/ Jens changed my worldview, introduced me to my partner, and clarified what I want to spend my life doing. I’m grateful to have played a small part & hope you buy it!

A much needed piece and example of strong leadership www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Dissertating in good company

Excited to be assembling a @vitalcitynyc.bsky.social volume on Gun Supply! If you have an idea for a short op-ed on the topic, we’d love to hear it—shoot me a message. 🔍✍️

What an inspiring life www.nytimes.com/2025/02/12/b...

This framing of choosing is powerful. We could have less poverty and fewer homicides. But we choose to prioritize other things. @nytimes.com

I've spent the last couple of years w/ young people in Chicago for research on illegal gun carrying. Here're reflections from them (& seasoned experts) and how they've reshaped my thinking on gun research and policy. vitalcitynyc.org/articles/a-better-conversation-on-guns @vitalcitynyc.bsky.social

Watch the video from this @jama.com article on how lower vs higher energy bullets affect muscle tissue. It blew my mind. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...