Summer 2025 - Research Intern, Beyond Jails Initiative

About the team:

To reduce the nation’s dependence on jails, Vera's Beyond Jails Initiative is working in jurisdictions across the county 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; piloting and building evidence around local decarceration strategies; and building will for change in local counties. 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 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, jails, 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 research, participating in virtual and possibly in-person meetings with state and local community partners, team-building activities, and more. The intern will be supervised by a senior researcher on the team, who will provide ongoing guidance and train the intern on a range of quantitative and qualitative research skills as needed. Other Vera staff will also be available to support the intern.

Learning Objectives 

• Understand process for cleaning and analyzing “messy” real-world data for varying audiences
• Build skills in data analysis, interpretation, and explaining findings to varying audiences
• Learn workflow dynamics in a fast-moving team involved in multiple projects at once 

What you'll do:

In this role, you will conduct data analysis and mixed methods research that supports ongoing analysis of the dynamics of jail incarceration and supervision. Specific projects will depend on ability and interest, and may include:

• Using state court data and county jail data to analyze patterns in pretrial decision making and case outcomes, at the county level, and preparing these findings for different audiences; 
• 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 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;
• Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite;
• Proficient in R/RStudio statistical package. 

Preferred: 

• 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 other statistical softwares (Stata, SPSS). 

Location:

Please note this role will report to our Brooklyn, NY, Washington, D.C., New Orleans, LA, or Los Angeles, CA 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 35 hours per week during the summer. The dates will be between June 2nd and August 8th, 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, Place, and Culture / Summer 2025 - 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.

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.