Brennan Center for Justice

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. Ms. Eisen comes from the Vera Institute for Justice, where she worked on the U.S. Department of Justice's Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) to reduce prison populations. As a former prosecutor, she consults with law enforcement and prosecutors in her research to realign the justice system’s financial incentives as well as federal advocacy. She has expertise in state sentencing and correctional reform, bipartisan commissions, state corrections and courts, and implementing evidence-based practices in the states.

Previously, Ms. Eisen worked as a Senior Program Associate in the Center on Sentencing and Corrections at the Vera Institute of Justice. In this role, Ms. Eisen worked on JRI coordinating technical assistance to states and has experience managing federal grant processes. She has also testified before state legislative committees.

Ms. Eisen also previously 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.

Her work has been published by the Vera Institute of Justice and featured in The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology and the New York Law Journal. She holds an AB from Princeton University and a JD from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Publications:

• 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:

• Overcriminalization Task Force Should Focus on Reducing Prison Populations, The Hill, July 26, 2013

Blog:

• 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:

• Support for Bipartisan Smarter Sentencing Act of 2013, July 31, 2013

Media Appearances:

• Pay to Stay: Jails Raise Revenue by Charging Inmates, Washington Post TV, September 5, 2013