Udi Ofer

Studies evaluating tens of millions of miles driven by Waymo found that compared with human-driven vehicles, Waymo cars are involved in 96% fewer vehicle-to-vehicle crashes at intersections; 90% fewer bodily-injury claims; and 92% fewer pedestrian injuries www.derekthompson.org/p/self-drivi...

In Gaza Talks, Hamas Will Be Led by a Man Israel Just Tried To Kill Khalil al-Hayya, whose son was killed in the Qatar strike, will lead the group in negotiations that could test President Trump’s optimism.

Gaza talks, which start tomorrow in Egypt, will include Khalil al-Hayya as the representative of Hamas. Israel attempted to kill al-Hayya three weeks ago, and did kill his son. Now they have to negotiate with him www.wsj.com/world/middle...

This is bonkers even by this Administration's standards. This is the front page of HUD's website right now. As a reminder, the 1939 Hatch Act restricts political activities by government agencies and employees. www.hud.gov#close

Progressive Democrats plot path forward with ‘Persuasion 2025’ event Left-leaning politicians and strategists host event to diagnose Democrats’ 2024 failings.

I'm all for Mamdani in NYC but a national strategy is very different than an NYC strategy, especially when you look at the fact that 23 states are completely controlled by Republicans vs 15 states by Dems. What's the strategy to win in 11 states with divided govt?
www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

Looking forward to my talk tomorrow making the case that even in the age of Trump 2.0 and heightened polarization, criminal justice reform can win and is in fact winning in many states. If you're in the Princeton area, would love to see you

Big city mayors say juvenile crime is 'serious' As Trump threatens more cities with the National Guard, mayors say they need different kind of federal help.

"Mayors said that the most effective crime reduction strategies for juvenile offense are mentoring assistance, along with violence intervention programs. Seven in 10 of the city leaders said they do not have adequate funding for youth programs." www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

Camden, New Jersey experienced a summer with zero homicides for the first time in about 50 years. Since the county police department took over in 2013, homicides in the city have been reduced by 64%. www.courierpostonline.com/story/news/l...

Princeton's Udi Ofer is choreographing a rare consensus across partisan lines A bipartisan effort to reform criminal justice policy, led by Ofer and Princeton SPIA, has buy-in from both CPAC and the ACLU, among others.

This spring, Princeton's @uofer.bsky.social unobtrusively accomplished a feat of across-the-aisle magic, bringing hard-right and hard-left factions together to approve a shared set of principles for criminal justice reform in America.

Former Balad MK Hanin Zoabi arrested for alleged terrorist incitement Retired Israeli legislator told conference in Vienna that 'you cannot differentiate between Hamas and the Palestinian people,' says October 7 attackers 'entered their own land'

Outrageous: Israeli government just arrested former lawmaker Zoabi for "incitement to terror," reportedly over speech she gave where she appeared to justify Hamas’s October 7 attacks. Justification of violence is wrong, but that shouldn't lead to an arrest. www.timesofisrael.com/former-balad...

Bookshop Cancels Event With Palestinian Author Over Community ‘Concerns’

I've criticized bookstores when Israeli speakers were cancelled and were disinvited from speaking, and I will criticize bookstores when Palestinian speakers are cancelled. We must get over trying to cancel the other side. Instead, we should engage and debate. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/n...

Federal Judge blocks Trump administration from immediately deporting Guatemalan migrant children. Many of them are fleeing violence and the Trump administration has been trying to bypass legal procedures meant to protect them from being returned to violent places apnews.com/article/trum...

Vehicle burglaries in DC are falling in a manner that is very reminiscent of the COVID shutdown period.

Folks: my students in my Policy Advocacy Clinic have asked for a list of best podcasts on politics, especially podcasts that aren't one-sided politically and that discuss strategies to achieve policy change. I have my list, but would love your ideas. Thoughts?

SCTOUS has outlawed executions of people w/ intellectual disabilities but this month two people face execution in FL. When David Pittman was a child his IQ was in low 70s, indicative of intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty. Yet state wont allow him to raise this claim deathpenaltyinfo.org/two-schedule...

Most presidents start their terms with positive net approval. Both Mr Trump’s terms began with mixed reviews that then fell to negative score. His second may be following similar trajectory. It took less than two months for his approval rating to fall below zero www.economist.com/interactive/...

Carr splits from the GOP's social media crackdown after Kirk killing Amid anger over Charlie Kirk posts, a key Trump ally said the First Amendment protects online speech.

Thank you, FCC Chair Brendan Carr for rejecting the notion that the government should crack down on social media posts that are protected by the First Amendment. www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

‘That is not the law’: Bondi promised to target ‘hate speech.’ She’s facing backlash from all corners. In a social media post Tuesday morning, the attorney general said the Department of Justice will go after speech “that crossed the line into threats of violence.”

Glad to see both liberals & conservatives criticize Bondi's inaccurate statement that First Amendment doesnt protect hate speech. Important civic lesson for public to understand difference between criticizing someone for hate speech & prosecuting them for hate speech www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

Vital City | The Case Against Futility Why making guns slightly harder to get reduces their use in violent crime

There are a variety of approaches to make it more difficult for those more likely to misuse firearms to obtain them, even within gun-rich environment where most adult citizens are allowed to acquire guns. Here are a handful that would pass constitutional muster: www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/the...

This is @ezrakleinbot.bsky.social at his best: The stakes of our politics right now are frightening as we see one another as threats. But this country will be immeasurably worse if we cannot also see what binds us, if we cannot still feel ourselves as one body politic www.nytimes.com/2025/09/16/o...

I agree. He should have let her explain it.

One of the questions that I have about Decarlos Brown that I don't see anyone asking is what could the system have done better when he was incarcerated for 6 years? What programs and support systems were in place? It's not a solution to just say that we should just lock people up forever.

Princeton's Udi Ofer is choreographing a rare consensus across partisan lines A bipartisan effort to reform criminal justice policy, led by Ofer and Princeton SPIA, has buy-in from both CPAC and the ACLU, among others.

My two decades at the ACLU, before coming to Princeton, taught me the importance of cross-ideological convergences when attempting to create sustainable change. I now get to continue this work @ Princeton, bringing stakeholders together so solve complicated problems www.princeton.edu/news/2025/09...

Undergraduate Students Conduct Death Penalty Research for U.N. in Landmark Geneva Course | Princeton School of Public and International Affairs A longstanding and distinctive feature of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs’ undergraduate program is the Policy Task Force, an experiential junior-year requirement that lets st...

Great story on new course I taught in Geneva, Switzerland this summer that immersed students in human rights advocacy. It's part of Princeton SPIA's growing emphasis on experiential learning. In this case, students got to live in global hub of human rights advocacy spia.princeton.edu/news/undergr...

Opinion | These Peace Negotiators Say It’s Time to Give Up on the Two-State Solution

While I appreciate the intense frustration experienced by people who have been on the frontlines of fighting for a two-state solution, I disagree that now we should give up on the idea. If anything, now is the time to double down on the efforts for a Palestinian state www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/o...

Iran: Missile Strikes on Israeli Civilians Likely War Crimes At least five Iranian ballistic missiles struck populated areas of Israel during the June 2025 armed conflict in violation of the laws of war and should be investigated as war crimes, Human Rights Wat...

At least five Iranian ballistic missiles struck populated areas of Israel during the June 2025 armed conflict in violation of the laws of war and should be investigated as war crimes, Human Rights Watch said: www.hrw.org/news/2025/09...

Created this late last week:

Most say crime is a major problem in America’s cities, but few support a federal takeover of police departments - AP-NORC Overall, 53% of Americans approve of how Trump is handling crime – higher than his overall job approval or approval on other issues.

Read here: apnorc.org/projects/mos...

This right here tells you everything you need to know about politics & crime. 75% of Americans say crime is not a problem or a minor problem in their community. Almost the opposite, 66%, say it's a major problem in the US. In other words, vast majority feel safe but think other people are not safe

Israel Police break up anti-Gaza war protest in Tel Aviv despite prior approval

Free speech continues to be under attack in Israel. Organizers of anti-war rally received permission from the police not only to rally but also to raise Palestinian flag (it's ridiculous they even need to ask permission to raise a flag) but police still break up rally www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

US bars Palestinian leader Abbas from UN as allies back statehood The United States said on Friday it would not allow Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to travel to New York next month for a United Nations gathering of world leaders, where several U.S. allies are set to recognize Palestine as a state.

The United States cannot continue serving as the home for the UN if it continues to inject politics into who gets to visit UN headquarters. The United States must revoke its decision to prohibit Mahmoud Abbas from attending UN GA meeting. Violates UN agreement www.reuters.com/world/middle...