David Weisburd is Walter E. Meyer Professor Emeritus of Law and Criminal Justice in the Institute of Criminology of the Hebrew University Law Faculty, and Distinguished Professor of Criminology, Law and Society at George Mason University. He received his B.A. from Brandeis University, and his MA MPHL and PhD from Yale University. His main field of interest is criminology. He is particularly noted for his contributions to study of crime at micro geographic units of analysis, policing, experimental methods, and white collar crime. Professor Weisburd began to explore crime and place more than 30 years ago, and conducted with Lawrence Sherman, the first randomized field trial in hot spots policing. This trial overturned assumptions that the police could not prevent crime, and has been followed by scores of rigorous field trials showing that this approach is effective without leading to displacement. Providing empirical justification for hot spots policing, and other focused geographic efforts to prevent crime, Weisburd identified remarkable levels of crime concentration, and consistency of crime concentrations across cities, which he termed a law of crime concentration at places. Professor Weisburd is an elected Fellow of the American Society of Criminology, and of the Academy of Experimental Criminology, and a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. He is the honorary president of the Israeli Society of Criminology, a member of the Steering Committee of the Campbell Crime and Justice Group, the Stockholm Prize Committee, and the Scientific Commission of the International Society of Criminology. He was the Chair of the US National Academy of Sciences Committee on Proactive Policing (2015-2017), and served as Chair of the Science Advisory Committee for the Police Commissioner of the Israeli National Police. (2016-2018). Professor Weisburd is author or editor of more than thirty-five books and more than 250 scientific articles. He was the founding Editor of the Journal of Experimental Criminology and is now the Editor of Cambridge University Press’ Elements in Criminology. He has received many awards for his contributions to criminology and crime prevention. These include the most prestigious international prize in this field, the Stockholm Prize in Criminology (2010), and the most important American awards in criminology: the Sutherland Award for "outstanding contributions to the discipline of criminology" (ASC, 2014) and the August Vollmer Award for contributions to the prevention of crime (ASC, 2017). In 2015 Weisburd received the the Israel Prize for Criminology and Social Work, and in 2022 he received the Rothschild Prize for Social Science.   

Education

Ph.D. Yale University, New Haven, CT (Sociology) May 1985

M.Phil. Yale University, New Haven, CT (Sociology) May 1980

M.A. Yale University, New Haven, CT (Sociology) December 1978

B.A. Brandeis University, Waltham, MA (Sociology, Magna Cum Laude) May 1976

Publications 

Weisburd, D., Jonathan-Zamir, T., Perry, G., & Hasisi, B. (Eds.) (2023). The Future of Evidence Based Policing.  Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.

Weisburd, D., Wilson, D.B., Wooditch, A. & Britt, C. (2021) Advanced statistics in criminology and criminal justice.  Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67738-1

Weisburd, D., Zastrow, T., Kuen, K., Andresen, M. (2024). Crime concentrations at micro places: A review of the evidence.  Aggression and Violent Behavior. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359178924000697?via%...

Jonathan-Zamir, T., Perry, G., Kaplan-Damary, N., & Weisburd, D. (On Line, 2024). Police compliance with the social contract as an antecedent of police legitimacy, of satisfaction with the police, and of willingness to obey: Findings from a two-stage vignette experiment. Journal of Experimental Criminology. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11292-024-09622-z?utm_source=...

Weisburd, D., Petersen, K., Telep, C., Fay, S. (2024). Can Increasing Preventive Patrol in Large Geographic Areas Reduce Crime?: A Systematic Review and Meta Analysis.  Criminology and Public Policy 23(3): 721-743. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1745-9133.12665

Weisburd, D., Wilson, D., Gill, C., Kuen, K., Zastrow, T. (2024) Are We Underestimating the Crime Prevention Outcomes of Community Policing?: The Importance of Crime Reporting Sensitivity Bias.  Journal of Law and Empirical Analysis, Vol. 1 (1): 1-17. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2755323X241233469

Weisburd, D., Wolfowicz, M., Hasisi, B., Paolucci, M., Andrighetto,G. (2024) Using Agent Based Modelling to Advance Evaluation Research in Radicalization and Recruitment to Terrorism: Prospects and Problems.  Studies in Conflict & Terrorism. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1057610X.2024.2361956

Ariel, B., Sutherland, A., Weisburd, D., Ilan, Y., and Bland, M. (2023). Can the Police Cool Down Quality of Life Hotspots? A Double-Blind National Randomized Control Trial of Policing Low-Harm Hotspot.  Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, Vol. 17. https://doi.org/10.1093/police/paad040

Weisburd, D., White, C., Hinkle, J., & Kuen, Kiseong. (2024) Broken Windows and Community Social Control: Evidence from a Study of Street Segments.  Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 61(5) 727-771. https://doi.org/10.1177/00224278231168614

Weisburd, D., Wilson, D., Petersen, K., Telep, C. (2023).  Does Police Patrol in Large Areas Prevent Crime? Revisiting the Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment. Criminology and Public Policy 22:543–560. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12623

Weisburd, D., Petersen, K., & Fay, S. (OnLine. 2023). Does scientific evidence support the widespread use of SQFs as a proactive policing strategy?  Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice.   https://doi.org/10.1093/police/paac098

Weisburd, D., Jonathan-Zamir, T., White, C., Wilson, D.B., & Kuen, K.. (2024). Are the police primarily responsible for influencing place-level perceptions of procedural justice and effectiveness? A longitudinal study of street segments. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 61(1):76-123. https://doi.org/10.1177/00224278221120225

Weisburd, D., Telep, C., Vovak, H., Zastrow, T., Braga, A.,Turchan, B. (2022) Reforming the police through procedural justice training: A multi-city randomized trial at crime hot spots.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119 (14):1-6. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2118780119

Weisburd, D., Wolfowicz, M., Hasisi, B., Paolucci, M., Andrighetto, G. (2022). What  is the best approach for preventing recruitment to terrorism?:  Findings from ABM   experiments in social and situational prevention. Criminology and Public Policy 21    (2):461-485. http://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12579

Braga, A. & Weisburd, D. (2022)Does hot spots policing have meaningful impacts on crime?  Findings from an alternative approach to estimating effect sizes from place-based program evaluations. (OnLine)  Journal of Quantitative Criminology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10940-020-09481-7