About the Authors

Leigh Courtney is a senior policy associate in the Justice Policy Center. Her research includes policy assessments and program evaluations that inform efforts led by communities, practitioners, and policymakers to reduce correctional control and build community-based approaches to safety and justice. 

Barbara Pierce is director of justice initiatives at the Crime and Justice Institute, where she oversees on projects related to law enforcement and behavioral health diversion, pretrial, and institutional and community corrections. She holds a Master’s of Public Policy and Management degree from University of Southern Maine. 

Ashlin Oglesby-Neal is a research associate in the Justice Policy Center at the Urban Institute. Her research includes evaluating the impacts of criminal justice programs and policies and developing and validating risk assessment tools. She has designed and managed multiple process and outcome evaluations with criminal justice agencies at the state and local level. Her analytic capabilities include multi-site data processing and management, causal analyses, machine learning, and data visualization. Oglesby-Neal received a master’s degree in criminology from the University of Pennsylvania. 

Susan Nembhard is a research analyst in the Justice Policy Center at the Urban Institute, where she conducts mixed-methods research on victimization, community policing, and crime reduction with a focus on racial equity and community approaches to safety. Her portfolio includes work on the Assessment of Intimate Partner Violence in Allegheny County and the Exploration of Educational Stability and Youth Justice Involvement in California. Before joining Urban, Susan was a police misconduct investigator in Washington, D.C. and she has also conducted research as a part of Seattle University’s evaluation of the Micro Community Policing Plan Project with Seattle Police Department. Susan received her Master of Arts in Criminal Justice with a Victimology specialization from Seattle University, and her Bachelor of Arts in Criminology and Criminal Justice from University of Maryland, College Park.