Skip to main content

Mission

The fundamental accuracy and fairness of the American criminal justice system was once taken for granted. In recent years, however, scientific advances such as those in DNA testing have challenged our idealism by revealing errors in findings of guilt and innocence, with significant consequences to individuals, families, and the system as a whole. Further examination by scholars and attorneys across the nation has led to the recognition that a wider variety and higher occurrence of errors exist, eroding the public’s faith that justice is universally achieved.

The Quattrone Center is a first-of-its-kind organization focused explicitly on inter-disciplinary, data-driven policy level research and recommendations designed to address the system factors that lead to criminal justice error. Rather than focusing primarily on individual cases or on remedying past errors, the Center works to identify institutional and policy-level barriers to fairness and accuracy and then to implement solutions that prevent future mistakes. The Center focuses primarily on two types of error: (1) wrongful arrests, incarcerations or convictions; and (2) policies or procedures that result in disparate outcomes among similarly-situated individuals. We analyze these situations using a broad range of techniques with proven success in reducing errors in such diverse industries as healthcare, aviation, and manufacturing, among others. Housed at the Law School, the Center draws on Penn’s unrivaled interdisciplinary strengths, involving scholars from disciplines across the Penn campus, including Business, Communications, Criminology, Engineering, Medicine and Public Health, and Social Sciences.

The Center hosts conferences, symposia, workshops, roundtables and other scholarly activities to generate knowledge and debate and policy ideas addressing major issues confronting the justice system. Students involved in the Center’s research and programming gain the expertise needed to become the next generation of criminal justice policymakers and professionals. Event participants include not only academic scholars and think-tank researchers, but also real-world practitioners including lawyers, law enforcement officials, judges, legislators, scientists, and the media.

The Center’s areas of investigation include assessing the frequency, causes of, and ways to reduce/eliminate wrongful convictions; measuring and improving justice system quality; critically evaluating the science underlying current forensic practices and developing new breakthroughs; improving incentives and accountability for prosecutors (e.g., absolute vs. qualified immunity); identifying best practices in indigent defense that can reduce error; redress for victims of institutional misconduct; and delineating the roles of politics, economics, and the media in shaping justice system fairness. By integrating world-class scholarship from across the University with the perspectives of nationally prominent practitioners, the Center’s analysis and recommendations serve to shape public deliberations and improve the fairness and accuracy of our legal system.

The Quattrone Center is led by an Academic Director–a recognized leader in the field of criminal justice policy with an interdisciplinary background–and an Executive Director with significant experience in the criminal justice sector and a record of outstanding organizational leadership. They are supported by an Advisory Board comprised of justice system leaders from diverse professional backgrounds, as well as dedicated and informed individuals concerned with ensuring the quality of the system.

Impacts

People

Center Leadership and Staff

John Hollway

John Hollway

Executive Director and Associate Dean
 
Paul Heaton

Paul Heaton

Professor of Law and Academic Director
 
Ross Miller

Ross Miller

Assistant Director
 
Marissa Bluestine

Marissa Bluestine

Assistant Director
 
Taylor Migliori

Taylor Migliori

Research Project Coordinator 
 
Angela K. Rivers

Angela K. Rivers

Strategic Engagement, Digital Marketing, and Communications Manager
 
Haley Sturges

Haley Sturges

Data Analyst
 

Center Research Fellows

Learn more about Quattrone Research Fellows

Laura Abelson

Laura Abelson

Quattrone Center Research Fellow
 
Anjelica Hendricks

Anjelica Hendricks

Quattrone Center Research Fellow
 

Affiliated Faculty

Laura Abelson

Laura Abelson

Quattrone Center Research Fellow
 
David Abrams

David S. Abrams

William B. and Mary Barb Johnson Professorship of Law and Economics; Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy
 
Regina Austin

Regina Austin L’73

William A. Schnader Professor of Law, Emerita
 
Anthony Braga

Anthony A. Braga

Department of Criminology
 

Kathleen M. Brown

School of Nursing
 
Cary Coglianese

Cary Coglianese

Edward B. Shils Professor of Law and Professor of Political Science; Director, Penn Program on Regulation
 
Maria Cuellar

Maria Cuellar

Criminology Department
 
Lee Fleisher, MD

Lee Fleisher

Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care
 
Anjelica Hendricks

Anjelica Hendricks

Quattrone Center Research Fellow
 
Jonathan Klick

Jonathan Klick

Charles A. Heimbold, Jr. Professor of Law
 
Dean Knox

Dean C. Knox

The Wharton School
 

Charles Loeffler

Department of Criminology
 
John MacDonald

John MacDonald

Department of Criminology
 
Sandy Mason

Sandra Mayson

Professor of Law
 

Steven E. Raper

University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
 
Greg Ridgeway

Greg Ridgeway

Department of Criminology
 
Dorothy Roberts

Dorothy E. Roberts

George A. Weiss University Professor of Law and Sociology and the Raymond Pace and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Professor of Civil Rights
 
David Rudovsky

David Rudovsky

Senior Fellow
 
Dr. Dominic Sisti

Dominic A. Sisti

Department of Medical Ethics & Health Policy
 

Associated Researchers and Alumni

Bocar Ba

UC Irvine School of Social Sciences
 

Amanda Bergold

Marist College
 

Matt Clair

Stanford University
 

George Cronin

Ph.D. Criminologist; Pennsylvania State Police (retired)
 

Cheyney Dobson

2019 Research Fellow
 

Rachel Greenspan

University of Mississippi
 

Johanna Hellgren

University of New Haven
 

Charles Eric Hintz

Sullivan & Cromwell
 

Erin Kerrison

University of California-Berkeley School of Social Welfare
 

Brian M. Murray

Seton Hall University School of Law
 

Emily Owens

University of California-Irvine School of Social Ecology
 

Seema Saifee

Rutgers Law School Assistant Professor of Law
 

Megan Stevenson

University of Virginia School of Law (Initial placement: George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School)
 

Amanda Woog

Texas Fair Defense Project
 

Advisory Board

Michael R. Bromwich

The Bromwich Group
 

Paul D. Clement

 

Commissioner Rodney Ellis

Harris County, Texas, Commissioner for Precinct One
 

Denise Foderaro

Justice Advocate and Philanthropist
 

Kimberly M. Foxx

Cook County, Illinois, State’s Attorney
 
Eugene Gilyard

Eugene Gilyard

 

Michael Holston

GE
 

John Legend

#FREEAMERICA
 

Mark H. Moore

John F. Kennedy School of Government
 

Mark F. Pomerantz

Paul | Weiss, LLP  
 

Frank Quattrone

Founder and Executive Chairman, Qatalyst Partners
 

Thomas Rotko

Clayman & Rosenberg LLP
 
Dean Ted Ruger

Theodore W. Ruger

Professor of Law
 

Julie Seaman

Emory University School of Law
 

Ty Stiklorius

Friends At Work
 

Brendan V. Sullivan, Jr.

Williams & Connolly LLP
 

Stuart Taylor, Jr.

 
Suzanne Turner

Suzanne E. Turner

Dechert LLP