Lauren-Brooke Eisen is Counsel in the Brennan Center’s Justice Program where she focuses on improving the criminal justice process through data-driven policy and legal reforms. Previously Ms. Eisen was a Senior Program Associate at the Vera Institute of Justice in the Center on Sentencing and Corrections where she worked on policies that aimed to improve public safety while reducing prison populations. 

Ms. Eisen also served as an assistant district attorney in New York City where she served in the Appeals Bureau, the Criminal Court Bureau, and the Sex Crimes Special Victims Bureau. Before entering law school, Ms. Eisen worked as a beat reporter for a daily newspaper in Laredo, Texas where she covered criminal justice issues. She has expertise in state sentencing and correctional reform, legislative drafting, bipartisan commissions, state corrections and courts, and implementing evidence-based criminal justice practices with departments of corrections. Ms. Eisen also teaches an undergraduate seminar on mass incarceration at Yale and supervises NYU Law students who participate in the Brennan Center Public Policy Advocacy Clinic.

Her work has been published by the Vera Institute of Justice and featured in The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, the New York Law Journal, the Crime Report, MSNBC, Roll Call, The Huffington Post, and the Hill. She holds an AB from Princeton University and a JD from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Publications:

• Inferno: An Anatomy of American Punishment, New York Law Journal, March 26, 2014
• Reforming Funding to Reduce Mass Incarceration, November 22, 2013
• Chasing Gideon: The Elusive Quest for Poor People's Justice, New York Law Journal, March 22, 2013
• A View From the States: Evidence Based Public Safety Legislation, The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Summer 2012
• Reallocating Justice Resources: A Review of 2011 State Sentencing Trends, Vera Institute of Justice, February 29, 2012
• In Doubt: The Psychology of the Criminal Justice Process, New York Law Journal, July 3, 2012
• The Law of Superheroes, New York Law Journal, October 23, 2012
• The Collapse of American Criminal Justice, New York Law Journal, September 22, 2011

Articles & Commentary:

• Putting Heroin Users in Jail Won't Help Louisiana's Crime Rate, The Times-Picayune, April 11, 2014
• Attorney General Holder Combats 'Tough on Crime' Legacy, Huffington Post, March 28, 2014 
• Congress Should Get Moving on Criminal Justice Reform, Roll Call, March 18, 2014
• Let’s Reward Innovative Policing With Fed $$$, The Crime Report, March 6, 2014
• How to Fight the Heroin Epidemic, MSNBC, February 23, 2014
• Better Way to Keep Track of Taxpayers Dollars, The Hill, February 3, 2014
• Overcriminalization Task Force Should Focus on Reducing Prison Populations, The Hill, July 26, 2013

Blog:

• Kaley v. United States: A 'Frightening' Ruling, March 4, 2014
• Second Chance Act: Funding a Tool for Criminal Justice Reform, February 9, 2014
• Respecting the Rights of Defendants, Justice Policy Institute, September 13, 2013
• Tennessee Inmates Must 'Pay-to-Stay', August 28, 2013
• WA Supreme Court Bars Legal Fees for Poor, May 31, 2013
• Should Judges Consider the Cost of Sentences?, May 22, 2013
• Fiscal Constraints Spur New Corrections Policies, March 27, 2013
• Criminal Justice Debt and Collateral Consequences: Issues and Innovations, September 28, 2012
• Ohio Takes Step to Roll Back Collateral Consequences, August 28, 2012
• False Confessions, DNA Exonerations, and Efforts to Curb Wrongful Convictions in New York, April 24, 2012
• In Light of Fiscal Constraints, How are Some States Rethinking Sentencing Policy?, March 26, 2012
• Getting Smarter about Sex Offenders, March 22, 2012
• Should Judges Know the Costs of Sentencing Options at their Disposal?, March 1, 2011

Legal Briefs & Testimony:

• Testimony on Criminal Justice Funding to House Appropriations Subcommittee, March 31, 2014
• Support for Bipartisan Smarter Sentencing Act of 2013, July 31, 2013

Media Appearances:

• Garland Robinette: On The Judicial System and The Poor, WWL.com, November 19, 2013
• Pay to Stay: Jails Raise Revenue by Charging Inmates, Washington Post TV, September 5, 2013