About the team:

To reduce the nation’s dependence on jails, Vera’s Beyond Jails team is working in jurisdictions across the country 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; pilot and build evidence around decarceration strategies; and building will for change in jurisdictions. The team works with local government and community partners to develop plans for jail decarceration, prevent the construction of new jails, and design reinvestment strategies.

About the role:

The Research & Policy Intern role for Beyond Jails is an opportunity for a college or graduate-level student to experience working in a full-time research and policy role at a non-profit organization. Working on the Beyond Jails team will support building program materials with county-based partner organizations, supporting data analysis and writing research materials that inform our county and state policy and advocacy work, and helping to build our 2025 cohort of partnerships. The Intern will participate in day-to-day team activities, including meeting with partners and coalitions, project meetings within BJI, team-building activities, and more.

What you'll do:

Writing summaries of policy implementation and reviews of evidence about county-level CLS/pretrial reforms

• Background research and drafting of summary materials for common pretrial justice reforms at the county level

• Consolidating 2024 partner information/activities into summaries for lessons learned and replication

Support on state-level research projects

• Cataloguing data sources and gathering various types of data, including but not limited to administrative data from criminal legal system agencies, budget data, and socio-economic data, for PA and TX.

• Writing summaries of patterns and findings in different formats for rapid-response and coalition work.

County partnership support – campaigns and building new cohort

• Supporting current partners with dissemination materials and events at the county level (PA, TX)

• Supporting BJI’s planning work to build an RFP and recruit new partners in 2025.

Other administrative Ad Hoc Duties as assigned

What qualifications are we looking for?

• Comfort working with quantitative data, preparing data for analysis, conducting descriptive and statistical analysis, and with other data types, including survey data and qualitative data;

• Commitment to advancing racial and gender equity in work;

• Curiosity about emerging research and advocacy in the criminal justice space;

• Strong writing skills;

• Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite;

• Proficient in at least one statistical software (R, Stata).

Preferred:

• Completed or currently enrolled in a social sciences program at the undergraduate or graduate level, with research training and familiarity with CLS issues

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities you'll bring:

• Professional, personal or academic engagement with issues of mass incarceration and mass criminalization

• Experience conducting research using different methods (quant analysis, analysis of interview and survey data, archival research, etc.)

• Experience in research dissemination and data visualization strategies

Technical knowledge we need you to be prepared to use:

• Microsoft Office Suite, especially Excel

• At least one statistical software: R, Stata

Location:

Please note this role will report to our Brooklyn, NY office. Vera interns and employees adhere to a hybrid schedule and are in-office on an alternating schedule. Full-time positions generally amount to 10 days per month. Part-time positions generally amount to 5 days per month.

Schedule:

The intern should be available to work up to 20 hours per week during the remainder of the Fall and upcoming Spring semester, with some flexibility to accommodate personal and academic schedules.

Compensation:

The compensation range for internships is $16.00 - $25.00 per hour. Actual compensation will vary depending on factors including but not limited to experience and performance. Applicants may choose to receive academic credit. For those who need to earn academic credit, Vera will gladly assist in working with the school or program to make arrangements and meet requirements.

How to apply:

Please submit cover letter and resume. In your cover letter, please explain why you are passionate about criminal justice reform and what you hope to gain from this internship.

Applications may also be faxed to:

ATTN: People Resources / Fall 2024/Spring 2025 - Intern, Research & Policy, Beyond Jails Initiative
Vera Institute of Justice
34 35th St, Suite 4-2A, Brooklyn, NY 11232
Fax: (212) 941-9407
Please use only one method (online, mail or fax) of submission.
No phone calls, please. Only applicants selected for interviews will be contacted.

In order to ensure a healthy and safe work environment, Vera Institute of Justice is requiring all employees to be fully vaccinated and provide proof of their COVID-19 vaccine before their start date. Employees who cannot receive the vaccine because of a disability/medical contraindication or sincerely-held religious belief may request an accommodation (e.g., an exemption) to this requirement.

Vera is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without unlawful discrimination based on race, color, creed, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, military status, prior record of arrest or conviction, citizenship status, current employment status, or caregiver status.

Vera works to advance justice, particularly racial justice, in an increasingly multicultural country and globally connected world. We value diverse experiences, including with regard to educational background and justice system contact, and depend on a diverse staff to carry out our mission.

For more information about Vera, please visit www.vera.org.