Job Description

The primary responsibilities of the intern will be to provide administrative and programmatic support to CASES’ Pretrial Research and Evaluation Unit, as part of the Strategic Initiatives team. They will have the unique opportunity to engage in cross-team collaboration and will gain meaningful experience in quantitative/qualitative research, data entry and management, as well as project management in the public policy space.

Further detail on specific internship responsibilities will be discussed and modified accordingly as the interview process unfolds, but primary responsibilities are likely to include programmatic support for the Pretrial Services Evaluation unit (50% of your time).

FOR THE REMAINING 50% OF YOUR TIME, YOU WILL BE ASKED TO SELECT TWO OF THE FOLLOWING CORE PROJECTS):

CORE PROJECT #1: SUPPORT AGENDA QUANTITATIVE DATA CLEANING AND ANALYSIS

• Support performance tracking both internally to program staff and externally to stakeholders
• Use Stata or SPSS to merge, clean, and analyze data, as needed
• Collaborate with the Pretrial Evaluation Unit to interpret findings and create reports
• Create data visualizations to create compelling evaluation insights and help the Evaluation Unit disseminate data to Pretrial staff, funders, and other stakeholders
• Execute general research administration tasks to ensure that that ongoing research activities are running smoothly

CORE PROJECT #2: BUILD A LITERATURE REVIEW DATABASE TO INFORM FUTURE PRETRIAL RESEARCH PROJECTS

• Conduct literature review, prepare abstracts, and stay abreast of latest research developments in pretrial supervision, bail, criminal legal system, juvenile justice, and racial and social equity
• Identify innovative pretrial programs and innovations that improve justice-impacted individuals’ well-being, as well as reduce failures to appear (FTAs), re-arrests, and racial disparities in pretrial outcomes
• Create and maintain an inventory of pretrial programming literature to inform future research

CORE PROJECT #3: BUILD A LITERATURE REVIEW DATABASE TO INFORM PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH STRATEGIES

• Conduct literature review research on participatory research to gain a strong understanding of best practices. (In participatory research (PR), the control over the research design, methods, and analysis is directly handed over from the researcher to research participants.)
• Identify best practices to the development of future research methods
• Create and maintain an inventory of PR literature to inform future research
• Help draft a PR plan for recruitment, execution, and analysis of the CASES Pretrial program with current or former Pretrial participants

CORE PROJECT #4: SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT AND EXECUTION OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH WITH SRP PARTICIPANTS

• Learn and apply qualitative research methods to assist in interviewing CASES participants to better understand their program experience
• Support the Pretrial Evaluation Unit in designing and administering data collection instruments (e.g., interview guides, focus groups, surveys)
• Help manage processes for cleaning and coding qualitative data for analysis
• Carry out administrative tasks for project management, such as scheduling participant interviews

Qualifications

The Pretrial Services Evaluation Unit is looking for an intern who has experience with or genuine interest in the criminal legal system. This could mean that either you have worked in or studied the criminal legal system, you have been directly impacted by the system (either involved yourself or know a loved one who is/was in the system), or you seek to change the system. We expect the intern to be deeply committed to advancing racial justice and ending mass incarceration.

REQUIRED:

• Enrolled in or recently completed a Bachelor’s degree in applied research, sociology, statistics, criminal justice, law, public policy, public health, social work, or social science; and at least one of research coursework or work experience
• Keen interest or experience with research design in quantitative or qualitative research design, and working within government-funded programs
• Experience using Microsoft Excel for project management and data analysis/visualization
• Strong time management and organizational skills, and ability to work with overlapping timelines
• Excellent oral and written communication
• Ability to work collaboratively within a team as well as independently
• Available 35 hours per week in a role that will be fully or partially remote
• If applying to Core Project #1: Beginner to moderate proficiency with quantitative software like SPSS or Stata
• If applying to Core Project #2 or #3: Experience conducting comprehensive and organized literature reviews
• If applying to Core Project #4: Experience studying, designing, and/or conducting qualitative interviews, focus groups, and/or survey instruments

PREFERRED, BUT NOT REQUIRED:

• Experience using statistical software (e.g., Stata or SPSS)
• Experience using qualitative software to code interview or focus group data (e.g., NVivo)
• Experience working with administrative datasets
• Experience conducting research or working within the criminal legal or other government systems
• Knowledge of criminal legal and pretrial terminology
• Personal or family experience in the criminal legal system
• Proficiency using data visualization software (e.g., Power BI)
• Proficiency speaking and writing in Spanish

Additional Information

SALARY: $20/HR (35 HOURS/WEEK FOR 8 WEEKS)

HOW TO APPLY:

On or before Wednesday, May 19th, in one document, please include the following documents in the order listed below and attach as PDF or Word Format:

• Cover letter - In your cover letter, please select two of the four core projects listed in the job description that you feel most prepared to complete.
• Resume
• 3-to-5-page writing sample (no more than 5 pages) based on a relevant research area or separate policy issue.

No phone calls please. Only applicants selected for interviews will be contacted.

Applicants who do not submit a writing sample will not be considered for the position.

CASES is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment with CASES is based solely on qualifications and competence for a particular position, without regard to race, color, ethnic or national origin, age, religion, creed, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or marital, military, or citizenship status. We also actively recruit individuals with prior involvement in the criminal justice system.