Skip to page content

criminal justice legislation

Featured

Report

The Science of Gun Policy: First Edition

Mar 2, 2018

What does the scientific evidence tell us about the effects of gun policies? Part of the RAND Gun Policy in America initiative, this report assesses the available evidence for the effects of commonly proposed gun laws on firearm deaths, violent crime, suicide, the gun industry, hunting and sport shooting, and other outcomes.
Project

Informing the Gun Policy Debate

Mar 2, 2018

RAND's Gun Policy in America initiative provides information on what scientific research can tell us about the effects of gun laws. Our goal is to establish a shared set of facts that will improve public discussions and support the development of fair and effective gun policies.

Explore Public Safety Legislation

Tool

The RAND State Firearm Law Database

As part of the Gun Policy in America initiative, RAND developed a longitudinal data set of state and District of Columbia firearm laws from 1979 to 2022 to support improved analysis and understanding of the effects of gun laws.

Jun 28, 2022
Blog

Gun Policy, Ukraine's Best Chance for Peace, Equity and Public Policy: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses what the scientific evidence says about gun laws, a potential pathway toward peace in Ukraine, helping incarcerated parents, and more.

Jun 3, 2022
Commentary

The Gun Laws That Work, and the Gun Laws That Don't

Are certain gun laws and regulations likely to improve or worsen public safety? At a time when many Americans are searching for solutions to the country's intolerably high rates of gun violence, social scientists can help provide answers.

May 27, 2022
Blog

Gun Policy, China and Taiwan, Russian Propaganda: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on reducing America's unacceptably high rates of gun violence, what would happen if China “quarantines” Taiwan, and Russia's “firehose of falsehood.”

May 27, 2022
Report

Research Road Map to Reduce Police Killings

Preventing killings committed by police will require research funding, research-practitioner partnerships with police agencies and unions, and standardized data collection. Research should focus on training, policies, technology, consequences for officers, and foundational issues such as racial inequities.

May 18, 2022
Blog

Putin's State of Mind, the Digital Skills Gap, International Women's Day: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on deterring Russian President Vladimir Putin, understanding America’s gun policy debate, improving teacher diversity, and more.

Mar 11, 2022
Periodical

RAND Review: March-April 2022

The cover story describes a yearlong study of a group of military veterans experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles. Other features examine the global digital skills gap and the magnitude and sources of disagreement among gun policy experts.

Mar 10, 2022
Essay

Exploring the Disagreement Among Gun Policy Experts

A survey asked gun policy researchers, advocates, and congressional staffers who work on gun issues for their views on policies ranging from weapon bans to stand-your-ground laws. Regardless of where they stood, they were not so dissimilar in what they thought gun policies should be trying to accomplish.

Mar 7, 2022
Blog

State of the Union 2022: Russia's Invasion of Ukraine and Domestic Policy

In his first State of the Union address, President Joe Biden rebuked Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, aimed to turn a page on the pandemic, and covered a wide range of domestic issues, including mental health care, prescription drug prices, and supporting veterans.

Mar 2, 2022
Report

Suggestions for Estimating the Effects of State Gun Policies: Commentary on Four Methodological Problems in the Current Literature

In this report, the authors discuss four common methodological problems that they observed in the literature evaluating gun policies and offer suggestions for how future research on gun policies could be improved.

Feb 15, 2022
Blog

Addressing Anti-Asian Racism, Stabilizing U.S. Rivalries, the Debt-Ceiling Fight: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on countering anti-Asian racism, the instability of U.S. rivalries with Russia and China, the rise in extremist online activity, and more.

Dec 3, 2021
News Release

Wide Disagreement Remains Among U.S. Gun Policy Experts; Five Policies Show Less Disagreement

Wide disagreement remains among U.S. experts who study gun policy issues, with differing opinions about how much individual policies may reduce gun violence and other harms caused by firearms. Researchers found there were generally two ideological camps—a restrictive group (who favor more-restrictive regulatory approaches to gun ownership and use) and a permissive group (who favor more-permissive regulatory approaches to gun ownership and use).

Nov 30, 2021
Tool

What Are the Predicted Effects of U.S. Gun Policies, According to Experts?

As part of the RAND Gun Policy in America initiative, experts with diverse gun policy views were surveyed on how they predicted specific gun laws would affect outcomes, such as suicide, mass shootings, and individuals' privacy. This expert-opinion tool shows where these experts agree and disagree.

Nov 30, 2021
Report

The Magnitude and Sources of Disagreement Among Gun Policy Experts: Second Edition

This report describes combined results from two fieldings of a survey of gun policy experts designed to identify areas of agreement and whether disagreements stem from assumptions about the policies' effects or from differences in policy objectives.

Nov 30, 2021
Visualization

Firearm Injury Hospitalizations in America

To address a gap in the available data on firearm injuries, RAND researchers have developed a longitudinal database of state-level estimates of hospitalizations due to firearm injury. Use this visualization to see rates of firearm injuries in your state from 2000 to 2016, and how trends in firearm injuries differ between states.

Apr 27, 2021
Tool

Inpatient Hospitalizations for Firearm Injury: Estimating State-Level Rates from 2000 to 2016

The lack of reliable, state-level data on firearm injuries is a challenge for gun policy researchers. As part of the Gun Policy in America initiative, RAND researchers developed a publicly available longitudinal database of state-level estimates of inpatient hospitalizations that occur as a result of firearm injury.

Apr 27, 2021
Journal Article

Impact on Nonfirearm Deaths of Firearm Laws Affecting Firearm Deaths: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

State gun policies that reduce firearm homicides are likely to reduce overall homicides in the state by approximately the same number. It is currently unknown whether the same holds for state gun policies that significantly reduce firearm suicides.

Apr 13, 2021
Journal Article

The Covid-19 Pandemic and Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the EU

This study offers a preliminary overview of the measures undertaken across the EU to support victims of violence during the Covid-19 outbreak.

Mar 9, 2021
Journal Article

When Is a Match Sufficient? A Score-based Balance Metric for the Synthetic Control Method

In this study, we present metrics to help analysts determine whether they have a good enough match to conduct causal inference using synthetic control method.

Feb 2, 2021
Blog

The Most Popular RAND Research of 2020

Here are the RAND research projects that resonated most in 2020, a year unlike any in living memory. Topics include remote learning, election disinformation, income inequality, and more.

Dec 21, 2020

1
2
3
4
5
Next

RAND Topic:
Public Safety Legislation

Researcher Spotlight

Meagan Cahill

Senior Policy Researcher

Meagan Cahill (she/her) is a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. For nearly 20 years, she has been conducting research and evaluation in the areas of policing and improving police-community relations; crime, place, and community crime prevention; at-risk and delinquent youth—with a…
Andrew R. Morral

Senior Behavioral Scientist, Director of the National Collaborative on Gun Violence Research

Andrew R. Morral is a senior behavioral scientist at the RAND Corporation, leader of Gun Policy in America, a RAND initiative to understand the effects of gun policies, and director of the National Collaborative on Gun Violence Research, a philanthropy that has awarded more than $21m in research…

Explore Our People »