Lauren-Brooke Eisen is Senior Counsel in the Brennan Center’s Justice Program where she focuses on improving the criminal justice process through legal reforms, specifically how the criminal justice system is funded. 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 where she prosecuted a wide range of misdemeanor and felony cases. Before entering law school, Ms. Eisen worked as a beat reporter for a daily newspaper in Laredo, Texas where she covered criminal justice issues. Ms. Eisen has taught an undergraduate seminar on mass incarceration at Yale, served as an adjunct instructor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and supervises NYU Law students who participate in the Brennan Center Public Policy Advocacy Clinic

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. She also serves on the Advisory Council of the New York City Bar’s Task Force on Mass Incarceration.

Her work has been published by the Vera Institute of Justice, The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, The Loyola University New Orleans College of Law Journal of Public Interest Law, Politico, the Marshall Project, the Justice Policy Institute, the American Constitution Society, the New York Law Journal, the Crime Report, MSNBC, The USA Today, Roll Call, The Huffington Post, The Times-Picayune, The Albany Times-Union, Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity, and the Hill. She holds an AB from Princeton University and a JD from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Publications:

• Changes in State Imprisonment Rate, June 7, 2016
• The Reverse Mass Incarceration Act, October 12, 2015
• Charging Inmates Perpetuates Mass Incarceration, May 21, 2015
• New Findings on Crime and Incarceration: How These Findings Relate to Legislation in Your State, February 27, 2015
• What Caused the Crime Decline?, February 12, 2015
• Too Big to Jail: How Prosecutors Compromise with Corporations, New York Law Journal, December 18, 2014
• Poverty, Incarceration, and Criminal Justice Debt, Talk Poverty, December 2, 2014
• Federal Prosecution for the 21st Century, September 23, 2014
• Mass Incarceration on Trial: A Remarkable Court Decision and the Future of Prisons in America, New York Law Journal, August 4, 2014
• Paying for Your Time: How Charging Inmates Fees Behind Bars May Violate the Excessive Fines Clause, Loyola University New Orleans College of Law Journal of Public Interest Law, Spring, 2014
• Inferno: An Anatomy of American Punishment, New York Law Journal, March 26, 2014
• Reforming Funding to Reduce Mass Incarceration, November 22, 2013
• The Potential of Community Corrections to Improve Safety and Reduce Incarceration, Vera Institute of Justice, July 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:

• Was 1960's Liberalism the Cause of Today's Overincarceration Crisis?, The National Book Review, May 10, 2016
• The Complex History of the Controversial 1994 Crime Bill, MSNBC, April 14, 2016
• Why Torture Doesn't Work: The Neuroscience of Interrogation, The New York Law Review, April 4, 2016
• How Washington Can Help End Mass Incarceration, The Hill March 22, 2016
• Spotlight on Poverty: The Reverse Mass Incarceration Act,  Spotlight on Poverty, January 5, 2016
• Criminal Justice Reform in 2015, Huffington Post, December 28, 2015
• Next President Should Support Plan to Reverse Mass Incarceration, Huffington Post, October 13, 2015
• Obama's Final 500 Days, The Marshall Project, September 3, 2015
• Mandatory Minimum Sentences — Time to End Counterproductive Policy, South Coast Today, June 9, 2015
• Prisons Shouldn't Create Debtors, USA Today, June 5, 2015
• America's Faulty Perception of Crime Rates, Huffington Post, March 16, 2015
• The Gatekeepers, Marshall Project, March 16, 2015
• The Crime Scene, Politico Magazine, March/April 2015
• Diminishing returns of high incarceration, USA Today, February 13, 2015
• What Is on the Horizon for Grand Jury Reform?, Huffington Post, January 23, 2015
• Are More Criminal Justice Reforms on the Horizon in 2015?, Huffington Post, December 29, 2014
• "Felons, Not Families" Oversimplifies a Complex Reality, Huffington Post, November 24, 2014
• Prosecutors Can Play Role in Ending Mass Incarceration, Huffington Post, September 30, 2014
• Federal Aid to Local Law Enforcement Should Be Success-Oriented, Huffington Post, September 11, 2014
• Mandate Taped Interrogations, Albany Times-Union, July 7, 2014
• Embracing Technology Can Reduce False Convictions, Huffington Post, May 28, 2014 
• New Report Examines Growth of Incarceration, Huffington Post, May 9, 2014 
• Georgia Governor Vetoes Private Probation Bill, Huffington Post, May 1, 2014 
• 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:

• Curbing Cash Register Style Justice, American Constitution Society, October 29, 2015
• In New York, Attorney General as Special Prosecutor, July 17, 2015
• Report Reveals Ineffectiveness of Mass Incarceration, American Constitution Society Blog, February 23, 2015
• Justice Department Takes Steps to Reform Grant Program Incentives, November 18, 2014
• Naloxone's Spread a Positive Sign, November 12, 2014
• 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 to Charles Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections, March 3, 2015
• Testimony to 21st Century Policing Task Force, January 13, 2015
• 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:

• Justice Sotomayor Delivers Blistering Dissent in Utah Search Case, NPR June 20, 2016
• National Reentry Week, Pete Dominick Show, April 29, 2016
• Debtors Prison, Wharton Business School on Sirius XM, September 21, 2015
• Bipartisanship in Prison Reform, WORT, August 11, 2015
• Inside Story with Ray Suarez, Al Jazeera America, July 16 2015
• Garland Robinette: Pick-A-Prison..., WWL.com, July 13, 2015 
• ​Krystal Clear, MSNBC, June 3, 2015
• StandUP! w/Pete Dominick, SiriusXM, May 21, 2015
• 8 O'Clock Buzz, WORT, May 11, 2015
• Capitol Pressroom, WCNY, May 4, 2015
• Virginia's Rising Prison Rates, WVTF, May 4, 2015
• Study Shows Increasing Incarceration Has Diminishing Returns, WRKF, February 20, 2015
• Study Finds Crowding Jails Fails To Substantially Reduce Crime, WWNO, February 13, 2015
• The Leonard Lopate Show: How do Grand Juries, and Trial Juries, Influence Our Criminal Justice System?, WNYC, December 12, 2014
• Double Charged: The True Co$t Of Juvenile Justice, Youth Radio, May 8, 2014
• Morning Edition: 21st Century Debtors' Prisons, NPR, May 20, 2014
• 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