Wilf Family Department of Politics

Welcome to the Wilf Family Department of Politics at New York University. We are a thriving department that is committed to the scientific study of politics. The department has leading scholars in numerous subfields and we are united in the belief that theory and evidence is the way to advance our understanding of social interactions. The department has over 550 students enrolled in our two undergraduate majors (one in Politics, and one in International Relations) and a robust Ph.D. program (check out our placement record!)

We strive to create a diverse faculty and student body, offer quality graduate and undergraduate instruction and advance the research frontiers.

Alastair Smith
Bernhardt Denmark Professor of International Relations
Professor and Chair of Politics

Public Safety Lab Receives 600K LJAF Grant For Jail Data Initiative

The problem of overincarceration has received considerable attention of late. The focus of this attention, however, has largely been on state and federal prison systems. Often overlooked are local jails. In any given year, approximately 11 million Americans will be detained in a county jail, often because they lack the funds to post bail, or even because they lack the funds to pay their fines. Yet we know little about county jail practices, including which counties are systematically jailing defendants pre-trial and/or post-fine, and about the consequences of these practices. It is possible that longer periods of pre-trial detention, for example, actually increase recidivism, and/or escalate petty offending into more serious offending. The Public Safety Lab, founded and directed by NYU Politics Professor Anna Harvey, has received a 611K grant from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation for its Jail Data Initiative. The Lab's data science team will crawl daily county jail rosters and criminal case records in over 1,000 counties throughout the U.S. over a period of 3 years. Using these data, the Lab's research team will be able both to identify counties that are systematically jailing defendants pre-trial and/or post-fine, and to estimate the impacts of these practices on recidivism. For more information, please contact publicsafetylab@nyu.edu.