Vera Institute of Justice Jobs

About the team. The Reshaping Prosecution Program is dedicated to transforming what it means to be a prosecutor by focusing on the dignity of all people impacted by the criminal justice system. Prosecutors play a critical, but often hidden, role in mass incarceration as one of the most powerful actors in the criminal justice system. They decide who to charge with a crime, what crime to charge, whether to detain someone in jail pending trial, and ...

About the team. The Law & Policy Intern will provide a wide range of support for our ongoing projects, including advancing prosecution reform, jail population reduction, increasing investment in thriving communities, and in multiple parishes and at the state legislature. The Law & Policy Intern will be supervised primarily by the Senior Program Associate and will complete a variety of projects with other staff. This internship will provide an opp...

About the team. Vera's work in New Orleans began in 2006, when the City Council invited us to assess the criminal justice system and propose reforms as part of post-Katrina recovery efforts. Since then, we have become a nexus for advancing evidence-based reform and have demonstrated that change is not only possible but within reach. In partnership with people leading and working in the local justice system, city leaders, and community organizatio...

About the team. Vera's Legal Department provides comprehensive in-house legal services to the organization, including each of its administrative departments, centers, programs, and demonstration projects, and to its Board of Trustees. This includes advising on written agreements, risk management and mitigation, lobbying and political activity, insurance, corporate governance, employment law, conflicts of interest, and compliance. This position wi...

About the team. The Data Engineering Intern for the Research Department's Central Data Science team at Vera is an opportunity for a college student or recent grad to immerse themselves into working in a data role at a non-profit organization. Their work will support the construction and maintenance of a centralized data ingestion/processing framework and data warehouse to support researchers who work with public and/or large-scale data in nationa...

About the team. The Incarceration and Inequality Project (IIP) combines research, data science, and strategic communications to explore and document how mass incarceration has impoverished communities and widened racial disparities in income and wealth over the past five decades. Vera is creating a national dataset that includes information on incarceration, community supervision, and economic outcomes from a range of local and federal sources. T...

About the team. Restoring Promise is an initiative of the Vera Institute of Justice that seeks to transform prison cultures, climates, and spaces by partnering with correctional leaders to reimagine housing units for young adults and realign corrections policies and practices with a commitment to human dignity. As Restoring Promise prepares for the next phase of our strategic plan, we are partnering with new and existing partner states to open yo...

About the team. The Vera Development team dedicates their time to raising the financial resources necessary to fuel Vera's mission and programs. The Development team cultivates relationships with prospective funders, coordinates funder engagement around Vera's work, and partners with initiative leads, leadership team, and trustees to build and execute strategies for fund development. The Development intern will provide a wide range of administrat...

About the team. The Vera Tech Department acts as both a strategic partner and service provider for the Institute. As a strategic partner, we collaborate with teams to extend the use of collaborative technology tools into their daily work. As a service provider, we ensure the stability and security of the infrastructure and provide professional support to all its users. The intern will work hand in hand with Vera Tech Ops team and gain valuable kn...

About the team. To reduce the nation's dependence on jails, Vera's Beyond Jails Initiative is working in jurisdictions across the county to shift resources to community-driven solutions to help people thrive. Vera's Beyond Jails work has three core strategies: statewide advocacy campaigns and coalition-building to create lasting policy change. piloting and building evidence around local decarceration strategies. and building will for change in lo...

About the team. Vera aims to transform the criminal legal and immigration systems until they are fair for all. The Sentencing Reform project seeks to change excessive sentences that emerged in the "tough on crime" era of the 1980s and 1990s and are still prevalent. The Sentencing Project is working in New York, Illinois and Michigan to advocate for sentencing changes that deliver safety and repair harm through decreasing the use and length of pri...

About the team. Vera's Opening Doors Initiative is a national initiative to expand access to housing for people with conviction histories. The initiative is pursuing state legislative campaigns for policy change, pursuing federal policy changes, providing technical assistance to housing finance agencies, and developing and lifting up evidence to support these policy changes. The Opening Doors Research Intern will provide research and administrati...