About MDRC
Ellis works in the Youth Development, Criminal Justice, and Employment policy area, evaluating interventions and programs aimed at reducing recidivism and improving outcomes for criminal justice system-involved populations. Her current projects include the Los Angeles County Reentry Integrated Services Project and the Pretrial Justice Collaborative. Before joining MDRC in 2020, she worked as a lab manager at the Risk-Resilience Lab at the University of California, Berkeley, where she led research projects promoting evidence-based policies and practices that decrease the risk of reoffending and boost the well-being of mentally ill individuals involved in the criminal justice system. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
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MDRC Publications
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Other Publications
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Projects
Jurisdictions across the country are striving to increase equity in their pretrial justice systems by reducing their use of pretrial detention and money bail, which affect Black people and other people of color disproportionately and are linked to negative health and well-being outcomes. Despite the intentions of these reforms, there is little rigorous evidence...
Bret Barden, Sarah Picard, Michelle S. Manno, Ann Bickerton, Douglas Phillips, Osvaldo Avila, Viktoriya Syrov, Emmi Obara, Sara Ellis, Olivia WilliamsEvery year, the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services’ Office of Diversion and Reentry ( ODR ) provides reentry services for thousands of people involved in the justice system. These services cover a wide variety of needs, ranging from employment services and skills training for individuals on adult felony probation to connections to community organizations...
Kristin Porter, Bret Barden, Melanie Skemer, Chloe Anderson Golub, Brit Henderson, Viktoriya Syrov, Lily Freedman, Emily Brennan, Sara Ellis, Olivia Williams, Sarah PicardJurisdictions across the United States are taking steps to reduce the number of people who are detained in jail unnecessarily while awaiting trial. In particular, they are seeking to reduce the use of cash bail as a mechanism to ensure court appearance. Many jurisdictions have introduced risk-assessment tools to inform release decisions and pretrial supervision...
Sarah Picard, Dan Bloom, Melanie Skemer, Bret Barden, Chloe Anderson Golub, Brit Henderson, Ann Bickerton, Emmi Obara, Sara Ellis, Lily FreedmanThe objective of the MDRC Center for Criminal Justice Research is to help build a more effective and equitable criminal justice system through clear, rigorous, and actionable research evidence. We partner with national and local criminal justice agencies, policymakers, and community-based organizations to assess reforms, practices, and programs that seek to increase...