Alissa is a Researcher at CPL-Berkeley, where she studies the impact of policy and program reforms on the criminal legal system. She is passionate about using data and evidence to improve community safety and to explore alternatives to incarceration. Alissa is interested in research that moves beyond the traditional measures of recidivism and elevates metrics that help us better understand how programs and policies support people returning to community after involvement with the criminal legal system.

She is the co-author of several CPL reports related to the criminal legal system in California, including research on alternatives to incarceration, restorative justice, pretrial reform, and record clearance. In her role at CPL, she works with local and state government agencies to provide analysis, guidance on program design to facilitate evaluation, and technical assistance on criminal legal system data.

Prior to joining CPL, she was a policy and research fellow at the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office under George Gascón. The research and analytical support she provided to the San Francisco Sentencing Commission led to the first local recidivism study in San Francisco, as well as a public-facing Outcomes and Desistance Dashboard.

Alissa holds an MPP from the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley and a B.A. from the University of San Diego. She serves on the Board of Directors of The Pathfinder Network, a community organization in her hometown of Portland that provides individuals and families impacted by the criminal legal system with the support they need to be safe and thrive. Outside of work, you can find her playing cribbage, crosswording, or enjoying a local park with her daughter.