Criminal Justice Reform, Economics, and Policy Research by Jennifer Doleac
Prof. Jennifer Doleac is Executive Vice President of Criminal Justice at Arnold Ventures, where she directs multimillion-dollar grantmaking to improve public safety outcomes. Since 2012, she has published peer-reviewed research on policing, reentry programs, and technology’s role in criminal justice. Her work has been cited more than 1,500 times in academic literature and has influenced federal and state policy debates.
Doleac previously served as associate professor of economics at Texas A&M University and hosted Probable Causation, a podcast with over 150,000 total downloads. She is also the author of the forthcoming book The Science of Second Chances (2025), which synthesizes two decades of empirical evidence. Speaking engagements include White House policy roundtables and criminology conferences with audiences exceeding 400 participants. Annual compensation, combining her executive role and writing, is estimated in the mid-six-figure USD range. With a strong media presence and consistent impact on criminal justice reform, Doleac has become one of the most visible economists applying evidence-based research to public safety.