Elyse Clawson
Executive Director
e-mail: eclawson[@]crjustice.org
tel: (617) 482-2520 ext. 120

Elyse Clawson currently serves as the Executive Director of CJI. She brings over 30 years of experience and a substantial background in criminal and juvenile justice, substance abuse and mental health treatment, and education. Throughout her career, Ms. Clawson has worked extensively with elected officials and other policy makers as both a national consultant and department director.

Under Ms. Clawson’s leadership, CJI’s work has had positive impact on public safety at both the local and national levels. CJI’s national efforts include a partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Institute of Corrections to develop an implementation model for evidence-based practices in community corrections, and provide technical assistance to several states as they test that model. CJI is part of a national team doing research on the affect of caseload size and evidence-based practices on recidivism, we also partner with Cornerstone for Kids on a national Human Services Workforce Initiative. On the local level, CJI works with several Massachusetts state agencies on juvenile justice reform and adult reentry initiatives. The wide scope of CJI’s mission ranges from advocacy, research, and policy development to hands-on technical assistance. As Executive Director of CJI, Ms. Clawson’s goals include the implementation of more effective and efficient ways to operate the criminal and juvenile justice system, and human services system both in Massachusetts and nationally, to ultimately increase public safety and the quality of life in our communities.

Prior to taking the lead at CJI, Ms. Clawson served in a variety of leadership roles in the state of Oregon. During her tenure as the Assistant Director of the Oregon State Department of Corrections, she led major reform of the community corrections system, including numerous statutory and organizational changes, the implementation of evidence-based practices, and the development of statewide sanction revocation guidelines. In 1995 she went to Multnomah County, Oregon where she became the Director of the Department of Community Justice (DCJ) and led significant reform of the adult and juvenile systems.

Elyse Clawson provides consultation on policy and practice in criminal/ juvenile justice, and human services for state and local government. She also makes presentations to professional organizations, legislatures, and other policy groups.

Ms. Clawson was a member of the Massachusetts Governors Commission on Corrections and the Massachusetts Juvenile Justice Advisory Council. She is currently a member of the Massachusetts Department of Corrections Advisory Council and was recently appointed to a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Department expert panel tasked with reviewing Department of Corrections programs and system both in the institution and upon reentry. She is also participating on a related subcommittee that is developing a new system model. She is a member of American Probation and Parole Associations, American Corrections Association, and National Association of Probation Executives. She is a Fulbright Senior Specialist.

Jennifer Fahey
Deputy Director
e-mail: jfahey[@]crjustice.org
tel: (617) 482-2520 ext. 115

Jennifer Fahey is the Deputy Director of the Crime and Justice Institute. She brings an extensive background in public safety and policy development. Ms. Fahey holds a law degree from Hamline University School of Law and a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University Kennedy School of Government. Her legal areas of expertise include Indian law, specifically working on Native American issues in Minnesota involving everything from treaty rights to the Indian Child Welfare Act; and criminal law, having worked as both an assistant and elected county attorney in Minnesota. As County Attorney she developed an innovative, alternative sentencing program in coordination with the judiciary, the Department of Corrections, the Mille Lacs Band of Indians, and the community, successfully working to prevent recidivism and keep individuals from entering the criminal justice system.

Prior to joining CJI, Ms. Fahey worked as the Director of Policy and Planning of the Division of Prevention and Community Partnerships, for the Department of Human Services in New Jersey. This position involved creating a new division dedicated to the prevention of child abuse and neglect, throughout the state, in partnership with local communities using evidence-based practices.

Lore Joplin, M.P.A.
National Director for Policy and Planning
e-mail: ljoplin[@]crjustice.org
tel: (617) 416-9915

Lore Joplin is the National Director for Policy and Planning at the Crime and Justice Institute (CJI). In this capacity, she works to promote CJI’s national presence by developing strategic opportunities, leading the development of national initiatives, and supervising and providing guidance to project managers on national projects. As a member of the executive management team, she assists with managing a fast growing, dynamic organization of professionals dedicated to improving the effectiveness of criminal justice and juvenile justice systems.

Ms. Joplin’s professional focus is on the analysis of complex public policy issues, including financial, operational, and political impacts at both the national and local levels. She has comprehensive experience managing complex projects with multiple and diverse stakeholders; facilitating planning and performance measurement development; and building collaborative relationships. Ms. Joplin is responsible for the development of a wide-range of nationally distributed public policy documents, including white papers on public policy issues, policy analysis and recommendations, educational materials and curriculum, and standards and guidelines.

Ms. Joplin began her work with CJI as Deputy Director and project manager for the national project entitled Implementing Effective Correctional Management of Offenders in the Community. Funded through a cooperative agreement with the National Institute of Corrections’, Community Corrections Division, this project is focused on improving community correction outcomes. The project model is designed to guide implementation of evidence-based principles in community corrections with an equal focus on organizational development and collaboration.

Previously Ms. Joplin worked as a senior policy and budget analyst for the Department of Community Justice in Multnomah County, Oregon. During her tenure at the County, she helped to coordinate major system reform efforts in juvenile justice and adult community corrections, including analysis of pre-trial populations, jail bed usage and population management strategies, juvenile detention reform, and other system enhancement efforts. Her work included both policy and budget analysis. While at the County, Ms. Joplin held multiple positions, including managing the department’s $74 million budgeting process; participating on cross-agency budget analysis teams; supervising the department’s contracting, budget, and finance units; providing senior level policy analysis, supervising the department’s communications and media relations, and coordinating the department’s legislative activities. Ms. Joplin received her Master’s in Public Administration from Lewis and Clark College and a double B.A. in English and French from Linfield College.

Leonard W. Engel, Esq.
Criminal Justice Policy & Project Consultant
email: lengel[@]crjustice.org
tel: (617) 482-2520 ext. 129

Len Engel is a recent member of the staff of CJI. Before joining CJI he spent 18 months in the Massachusetts Senate as legislative director for Senator David P. Magnani. Prior to going to the State House he spent 16 years in the Connecticut criminal justice system with the Connecticut Correctional Ombudsman, Inc. The Correctional Ombudsman contracted with the state to provide ombudsman services to the Department of Correction. Len worked on a number of systemic problems in the correctional system, focusing on offender classification, sentence computation and parole eligibility criteria. He also managed a caseload of individual complaints in prisons throughout the state. After becoming an attorney his worked focused on offender access to the courts, habeas corpus reform as an advisor to the Law Revision Commission and prison overcrowding. He directed the Ombudsman’s government relations activity and managed its relationship with non-governmental organizations. He was an editor of the Connecticut Prisoner Rights Manual, a member of the Board of Advisors to the Yale Law School Prison Clinic and a member of the prison issues sub-committee of the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women.

Kate Florio
Assistant Project Manager
e-mail: kflorio[@]crjustice.org
tel: (617) 482-2520 ext. 127

Kate Florio has been with CJI since June 2000. She has several years experience in providing meeting facilitation, staff support, data collection, basic data analysis, and presentation delivery. She brings experience in working with law enforcement personnel and a deep understanding of criminal justice and reentry issues. In addition, she brings strong project management and communication skills to CJI. As part of an initiative to increase public safety in select cities, Ms. Florio provided technical assistance to facilitate communication between law enforcement, medical providers, community members, and political leaders. She assisted these initiatives in using research data in the development and implementation of strategies to address specific public safety issues. Ms. Florio also coordinated a series of community forums focused on public safety issues that brought together a variety of stakeholders to influence current public safety practices and policies. Kate is actively involved in CJI's cooperative agreement with the National Institute of Corrections, where she assists the project manager in providing technical assistance and managing logistical and organizational aspects of the work. Ms. Florio received a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology from Bridgewater State College, where her focus of study was criminology. She also successfully completed a Certificate program at Suffolk University in Health and Human Services Management in 2005.

Meghan Howe, M.P.H.
Senior Project Manager
e-mail: mhowe[@]crjustice.org
tel: (617) 482-2520 ext. 128

Meghan Howe joined the Crime and Justice Institute in 2005. She currently focuses her research, training, and technical assistance work on system reform, organizational development and quality assurance, and workforce and workload issues. Prior to joining CJI, Meghan worked extensively in program development, training, and education. Meghan managed community-based wellness initiatives and specialized in developing and implementing health education and violence prevention curricula with juvenile offenders and other high-risk youth. Meghan received her Master of Public Health Degree in social and behavioral sciences at the Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH), where she now serves as a lecturer on family violence.

Rosemary Kooy
Senior Project Manager
Email: rkooy[@]crjustice.org

Rosemary Kooy is a correctional consultant who recently joined CJI part-time to manage the BJA project. She brings over 20 years of experience and a substantial background in criminal/juvenile justice, substance abuse, mental health, and education. She has worked in a variety of direct and administrative roles as a licensed social worker, licensed alcohol & drug counselor, certified school psychological service provider, and nationally certified school psychologist. She holds a Bachelors Degree in Psychology, a Specialist Level Masters Degree in School Psychology, and is currently completing a Masters Degree in Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati.

Throughout her career, she has served in many leadership roles in the state of Maine. As the former Director of Organizational Development & Quality Assurance for the Maine Department of Corrections, her responsibilities included coordinating statewide system reform efforts in juvenile and adult corrections. As the Director of Maine’s Juvenile Drug Courts, she worked with District Court judges and juvenile justice partners to develop and implement five drug courts. Ms. Kooy has designed and delivered training seminars and managed numerous research and technical assistance projects. She has provided consultation on policy and practice in criminal/ juvenile justice for state and local government including professional organizations, legislatures, and other policy groups.

Michael Kane
Assistant Project Manager
e-mail: mkane[@]crjustice.org
tel: (617) 482-2520 ext. 124

Michael Kane joined CJI as an Assistant Project Manager at the Crime and Justice Institute in September 2006. Before joining the Crime and Justice Institute, he was a Research Associate in the Justice Policy Center at the Urban Institute for 2.5 years. While at the Urban Institute projects he contributed to include: a 5 year, National Institute of Justice-sponsored, national evaluation of adult drug courts; a project examining the impact of community organizations on crime in Washington DC; an evaluation of the Project Safe Neighborhoods gun-crime reduction initiative in Washington DC; and an analysis of prisoners returning to the city of Philadelphia from the Philadelphia Prison System. Mr. Kane’s responsibilities include quantitative data analysis and management, spatial analysis, project administration, writing and editing. Mr. Kane holds an M.A. in Social Science from the University of Chicago and a B.A. in Sociology (summa cum laude) from Northeastern University.

Dara Glass, M.P.A.
Assistant Project Manager
email: dglass[@]crjustice.org
tel: (617) 482-2520 ext. 121

Dara Glass recently joined the Crime and Justice Institute as an Assistant Project Manager. She previously worked for Florida’s Office of Inspector General where she performed criminal investigations, management reviews, and policy analysis to improve government efficiency. She also has a background in juvenile criminal justice matters, including probation, protective supervision and investigation, gang intervention, and risk assessment. Ms. Glass has an undergraduate degree in psychology and Spanish and a master’s degree in public administration from Clark University.

Julie Finn
Support Services Coordinator
e-mail: jfinn[@]crjustice.org
tel: (617) 482-2520 ext. 113

Julie Finn joined the Crime and Justice Institute in October 2005. At CJI, Ms. Finn provides administrative and project support, assists in data analysis to inform strategy of several different initiatives, and liaises with outside agencies on behalf of the division. Currently, she assists on the Charles E. Shannon Community Safety Initiative, a project to intervene and prevent youth gang violence in Fall River, MA. CJI is working with the Fall River Police Department as their Local Action Research Partner in this initiative. Additionally, Julie assists on the MA Parole Board’s Graduated Sanctions Initiative.

Prior to her work with CJI, Julie worked in the Massachusetts State Senate as the Scheduler and Office Manager for a state Senator, where she managed the Senator’s schedule, coordinated collaborative partnerships with state agencies and the community, reviewed and identified priorities with the Senator, and acted as the point of contact to him.

Julie graduated from Colby College in 2003 with a Bachelors Degree in Government.

Associates and Friends
An additional cadre of well-respected consultants with expertise in a wide range of disciplines is linked with CJI on several projects, providing enhanced capacity.

• Bill Woodward
• Brad Bogue
• Brenda Bond
• Elspeth Slayter
• Ginger Martin
• Joanne Fuller
• John Doble
• Mark Carey
• Monica Driggers
• Nancy Campbell