Maryland Crime Research and Innovation Center
The Maryland Crime Research and Innovation Center (MCRIC) was launched in 2018 with support from the Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention, Youth, and Victim Services with the vision of developing connections between the University of Maryland’s leading academic experts and practitioners, policy makers, and legislators to provide research and data analysis to inform crime reduction strategy and policy to help make Maryland communities safer.
At the time, the state of Maryland did not have a dedicated partner to help access academic expertise to inform, develop, and evaluate innovative criminal justice strategies aimed at reducing crime. This insightful and resourceful partnership emphasizes the importance of data-driven decision-making.
The Center offers academic expertise, conducts research, integrates data, builds partnerships between government, academia, and industry, and develops and evaluates innovative criminal justice strategies aimed at preventing and reducing crime.
Research, Data Sharing, Integration, and Analysis
MCRIC draws upon a broad range of expertise across the UMD academic community to engage in innovative research and interdisciplinary projects that align with the state's efforts to prevent and reduce crime. More broadly, the center’s work is aimed at addressing today’s grand challenges, such as gun violence, social and racial disparities in the criminal justice system, and behavioral health, among others, by engaging in community-led research and evaluation projects.
The center’s hub is the Criminology and Criminal Justice department that has long held the nation's #1 Criminology program ranking, according to U.S. News and World Report's Best Graduate Schools. In addition, MCRIC leverages the vast expertise across the University of Maryland system to address public safety questions and challenges with robust tools and rigorous methods.
Central to MCRIC's mission is the investment in people and communities by establishing, fostering, and maintaining partnerships with local, regional, and state agencies, communities, and people. We work in collaboration with our partners to understand their needs and challenges, assist in the development of data infrastructures, provide data analysis and evaluation efforts, and disseminate findings and insights to broad audiences.
Today, MCRIC has partnerships with organizations, agencies and communities within jurisdictions across Maryland, the state of Maryland, and beyond.
Training the Next Generation of Leaders
An investment in the next generation of leaders is woven into every MCRIC endeavor. The Center facilitates student engagement, including internships with government and industry, as well as research and educational opportunities to help prepare the next generation of leaders in Maryland to prevent and reduce crime. Core to this effort is our embedded data analyst program.