Our Leadership

JRSA is lead by its Executive Committee and Executive Director. The Executive Committee is the elected governing body of the Justice Research and Statistics Association and is comprised of a president, vice president, secretary/treasurer, and three delegates.

2022-2023 JRSA Executive Committee

President

Megan Alderden is an Associate Professor and Director of the Criminology Program at DePaul University. Prio to joining the faculty at DePaul, she served as the research director of the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority’s Research & Analysis Unit and the Illinois Statistical Analysis Center. Dr. Alderden joined the Authority in June with 16 years of research experience in the field of criminal justice working as an academic and practitioner. Prior to joining the Authority, Dr. Alderden was an associate professor of criminal justice at Saint Xavier University, and preceding her work in academia, Dr. Alderden was a researcher for the Chicago Police Department and the Authority. Dr. Alderden’s most recent research focuses on sexual victimization and issues in policing. She is currently working as a co-principal investigator on a project examining evidence-based practices in homicide and sexual assault investigation in Illinois and on a federally funded study examining the impact of forensic evidence on prosecutorial decisions and court outcomes in sexual assault cases.

She is also a researcher with the National Police Research Platform, where her work focuses on police diversification, police culture, and the civilianization of police agencies. She has published in several government reports and articles in scholarly journals. Ms. Alderden received her doctorate of philosophy in criminal justice with a gender and women studies concentration from the University of Illinois at Chicago, her master of science degree in criminal justice from Michigan State University and her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Calvin College.

Vice President

Stefanie Lopez-Howard is the Director of Data and Analytics at the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, where her focus is on measuring program effectiveness and outcomes for several key initiatives that crossover between the criminal justice and mental health systems. Prior to this position, she served as the Statistical Analysis Center (SAC) Director for the State of Georgia for 12 years. During her tenure as Director, the SAC grew from a staff of 2 to 11 and secured over $6 million in federal grants to expand research and data capacity at CJCC. Before being appointed SAC Director, she served a brief time as Planning & Evaluation Program Coordinator, overseeing the programmatic functions for 10 federal funding streams. Stefanie started at CJCC as a Planning and Policy Development Specialist working on various federal formula victim services grants. Prior to working at CJCC, Stefanie worked at Legal Momentum, formerly NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, first as a legal assistant and then as the Program Associate to the National Judicial Education Program. She attended graduate school at the University of Connecticut. She holds a Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in Survey Research. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature with two minors in French and Legal Studies from Trinity College in Hartford, CT. She lives in Atlanta with her husband Brian, their daughter Penelope, son Samuel, and their family quadrupeds Regor and AddyApricot.

Secretary/Treasurer

Mindi TenNapel is an Executive Officer who serves as Research Coordinator for the division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning (CJJP) and the Director of the Iowa Statistical Analysis Center. TenNapel has been working in epidemiological research since 2008 and joined CJJP in 2019. She is responsible for oversight of all research projects at CJJP. TenNapel has led and conducted program evaluation and outcome projects, correctional policy and forecasting analysis, as well as risk assessment validation. She is the Principle Investigator for the Prison Research Innovation Project (PRIN) which utilizes community based participatory research to study the culture and climate at the Iowa Correctional Institute for Women. TenNapel obtained her M.B.A. as well as her M.S. and Ph.D. in Epidemiology with a certificate in biostatistics from the University

Delegate

Jack McDevitt is the director of Northeastern’s Institute on Race and Justice. He is also the Associate Dean for Research in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities. McDevitt is the co-author of three books: Hate Crimes: The Rising Tide of Bigotry and Bloodshed, Hate Crime Revisited: American War on Those Who Are Different (both with Jack Levin) and Victimology (with Judy Sgarzy). He has spoken on hate crime, racial profiling human trafficking and security both nationally and internationally and has testified as an expert witness before the Judiciary Committees of both U.S. Senate and The U.S. House of Representatives and as invited expert at the White House. In January 2013, McDevitt was appointed by Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo to lead a special commission on gun violence.

Delegate

Kara Miller has been the Director of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation’s (OSBI) Statistical Analysis Center (SAC) since January of 2022. Before being appointed SAC Director, Kara served as a Statistical Research Specialist in the SAC for just over three years. During her time in the SAC, she has worked to develop methods to query Oklahoma’s State Incident-Based Reporting System (SIBRS), participated and/or lead grant-related research, and developed an online, public facing website to display SIBRS data. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Science and Organizational Studies, with a focus towards sociology and psychology. In addition to her bachelor’s degree, she has a Master of Arts degree in Crime and Intelligence Analysis from the University of Central Oklahoma.

Delegate

Jessica Reichert manages ICJIA’s Center for Justice Research and Evaluation. Her research focus includes violence prevention, corrections and reentry, women inmates, and human trafficking. Her work received the Justice Research and Statistics Association’s Phillip Hoke award in 2011 for outstanding effort in applying empirical analysis to criminal justice policymaking. She has conducted numerous national and state presentations on criminal and juvenile justice issues. Prior to joining ICJIA, Jessica worked at the Office of the Illinois Attorney General and in 2005 received the Distinguished Service Award for her work on behalf of citizens of Illinois. She earned her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Bradley University and master’s degree in criminal justice from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Jessica is also a part-time Adjunct Instructor at Loyola University Chicago.

Past President

George Shaler is the Senior Research Associate at the Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine, which is located in Portland. In addition, he is the Director of the Maine Statistical Analysis Center (SAC), which is housed at the Muskie School. His primary research and evaluation interests are justice and public health issues and how these topics are intertwined. He provides program evaluation and consultation services to state and local government agencies as well as community-based organizations, and offers technical assistance in evaluation capacity building (using a logic model approach) to many Maine non-profits. Mr. Shaler has extensive experience in the application of statisticalmethods and techniques, and has been on the SAC staff since 2003. He has examined county jail trends, disproportionate minority contact, prison/jail health care issues, and juvenile and adult recidivism analysis, and conducted a community policing program evaluation. Mr. Shaler has co-authored and/or edited numerous SAC reports, including the recent Disproportionate Contact: Youth of Color in Maine’s Juvenile Justice System, a winner of the 2015 Douglas Yearwood National publication Award in the Statistical Analysis/Management category.

Executive Director

Jeffrey Sedgwick joined JRSA as Executive Director in January 2015, having previously served as Director of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) and Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs (OJP). Dr. Sedgwick is responsible for the overall management of JRSA, including administrative functions, program development and implementation, and liaison to other national criminal justice organizations. He provides staff support to JRSA’s Executive Committee as well as to the Association’s members.

Dr. Sedgwick received his M.A.P.A. in Public Administration and Public Policy and his Ph.D. in Government and Public Affairs from the University of Virginia. He is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst where he taught multiple courses including policy analysis and evaluation and public policy. Dr. Sedgwick also co-founded the consulting firm Keswick Advisors which aides in developing program outcome and performance measures for a range of projects including an evaluation of youth crime prevention programs funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP).