Who we are:
The Vera Institute of Justice, founded in 1961, is a nonprofit criminal justice organization that strives to build just government institutions and safe communities free from the scourge of racism, white supremacy, profit, and inequity that is pervasive in this country’s legal systems. We are an “inside” lane organization that drives change at scale with ambitious public sector leaders who share our commitment to building anti-racist, reparative systems that deliver justice. We leverage our access to government to transform these systems and work collaboratively with stakeholders across many movements—including advocacy, grassroots, and grasstop organizations. Our role is to pilot solutions that are transformative and achievable, harness the power of evidence to drive effective policy and practice, and use advocacy and communications to change narratives and norms.
Vera has a staff of 300 people and offices in New York City, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, and New Orleans. We are an equal opportunity employer with a commitment to diversity in the workplace. We expect our staff to embody respect, independence, collaboration, commitment, anti-racism, and equity—both in our outward-facing work and the internal culture of our workplace. We value a range of experiences in people’s educational backgrounds and encourage people who have been directly impacted by the criminal justice system to apply.
Who you are:
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.
The Research Intern role for Beyond Jails is an opportunity for a college or graduate-level student or recent graduate to experience working in a full-time research role at a non-profit organization. Working on the Beyond Jails team will support analysis of administrative data from courts and other justice agencies, to generate descriptive and inferential findings that will inform our policy and advocacy work. The Research Intern will participate in day-to-day team activities including conducting quantitative research about jail incarceration and community supervision, participating in virtual and possibly in-person meetings with state and local community partners, team-building activities, and more.
What you’ll do:
Quantitative analysis of court data
- Using Pennsylvania court data to analyze patterns in pretrial decisions and case outcomes, at the county level
- Preparing these findings for different audiences
Cleaning and analysis of criminal legal system administrative data
- 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;
- Cleaning and analyzing administrative data to answer questions about how local criminal legal systems work;
Writing and presenting literature reviews and memos on pretrial and local criminal legal system issues
- Writing memos or brief reports that document practices and summarize findings;
- Presenting findings and implications for policy to Vera teams and external partners.
What qualifications are we looking for?
- Experience conducting analysis of quantitative data, ideally related to criminal justice or other social policy issues, either on your own or in collaboration with a professor and/or full-time researchers;
- Comfort working with quantitative data, preparing data for analysis, conducting descriptive and statistical analysis;
- Commitment to advancing racial and gender equity in work;
- Curiosity about emerging research and advocacy in the criminal justice space;
- Strong writing skills;
Preferred:
- Completed or currently enrolled in a social sciences program at the undergraduate or graduate level, with quantitative research training
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.)
- Proficiency in data visualization, database, and/or coding tools such as SQL, Python, Tableau and others.
Technical knowledge we need you to be prepared to use:
- Microsoft Office Suite, especially Excel
- At least one statistical software: R, Stata
- Preferred but not required: familiarity with SQL, Python, Tableau, Github, Google Cloud environment
Location:
Please note this role will report to our Brooklyn, N.Y or Washington, DC 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 35hours per week during the summer. The dates will be between June 3rd and August 9th, 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 / Summer 2024 – Research Intern, 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
