Ames Grawert
Ames Grawert is senior counsel and John L. Neu Justice Counsel in the Brennan Center’s Justice Program. He leads quantitative and policy research focused on trends in crime, and the collateral costs of mass incarceration. Additionally, he advocates for criminal justice reform policies at the state and federal level.
Previously, Grawert served as an assistant district attorney in the Appeals Bureau of the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office, where he reviewed and litigated claims of actual innocence in addition to his appellate work. Before entering public service, he was an associate at Mayer Brown LLP, where he represented criminal defendants pro bono in post-conviction litigation.
Featured Work
Publications
The Legal Case for Education in Prison, American Enterprise Institute, February 7, 2019
Criminal Justice Reform Must Start with Sentencing Reform, Federal Sentencing Reporter, December 1, 2018
Media Appearances
Conviction, Imprisonment, and Lost Earnings, Penn Law, November 3, 2021
Crime, Boy, I Don’t Know…, Off-Kilter Podcast, October 29, 2021
What’s Driving Crime During the Pandemic?, New Yorkers United for Justice, September 21, 2021
Reform-Minded, Rice Magazine, July 5, 2021
The Cost of Parole: A Virtual Roundtable, New Yorkers United for Justice, May 19, 2021
Criminal Justice and Community Organizing, Amnesty International at NYU, April 14, 2021
Press Conference: Cost of Parole Revocations in Erie County, New Yorkers United for Justice, March 17, 2021
Ames Grawert & Jonathan Capehart, No City Limits 2021, February 24, 2021
Parole Reform in New York: A Virtual Roundtable,New Yorkers United for Justice, February 8, 2021
How Incarceration Became a Poverty Trap, Off-Kilter Podcast, December 4, 2020
Incarceration and Inequality, Brennan Center for Justice, September 16, 2020
Freedom and Forgiveness: The Future of Federal Clemency Reform, NYU School of Law, October 22, 2019
Preparing people to reenter society: The role of education inside prison, American Enterprise Institute, March 19, 2019
Criminal Justice Reform for Women, NY1, January 13, 2019
Episode 41: First Step Act Implementation, Decarceration Nation Podcast, January 15, 2019
A Talk with Ames Grawert from the Brennan Center, American Constitution Society, November 12, 2018
Episode 18: First Step Act, Decarceration Nation Podcast, May 21, 2018
MLK’s Legacy: The Dream. The Reality. The Future, Glastonbury MLK Community Initiative, April 18, 2018
Ames Grawert on Fox 5 DC: The Opioid Crisis, Fox 5 DC, March 20, 2018
Banter #291: Renita Seabrook and Ames Grawert on education in prisons,AEI Banter Podcast, November 23, 2017
Education for liberation: The politics of promise and reform inside and beyond America’s prisons, American Enterprise Institute, November 14, 2017
Uniform Crime Report Analysis, Smart on Crime Innovations Conference
Publications, October 11, 2017
‘BradCast’ 5/19/2017, The BradCast w/ Brad Friedman, May 20, 2017
Mass incarceration contributes significantly to the racial achievement gap, Economic Policy Institute, March 15, 2017
State of the Court: The Supreme Court and the Reality of Criminal Justice, The NYU Journal of Legislation and Public Policy & the Brennan Center for Justice, February 13, 2017
Perceptions of Crime in the U.S., C-SPAN, September 3, 2016
Articles & Commentary
2020 uptick in homicides doesn’t mean justice reforms aren’t working, USA Today, October 4, 2021
How prisons are a drag on N.Y.’s economy, New York Daily News, February 23, 2021
Economic struggles worsened under COVID-19 already existed under mass incarceration, USA Today, October 29, 2020
Don’t Deny Pandemic Relief Loans to Second-Chance Entrepreneurs,The Bulwark, April 21, 2020
Under Trump’s First Step Act, Thousands Have Been Released From Prison. Much More is Still Needed, The Forward, September 12, 2019
Welcome To The Age Of Bipartisan Criminal Justice Reform, Forward, May 16, 2019
FIRST STEP Act must be a stepping stone to much more aggressive reform, USA Today, December 19, 2018
Barr would be a Jeff Sessions clone at the Justice Department, Houston Chronicle, December 13, 2018
Don't Let Fair-Weather Friends Derail Criminal Justice Reform, Houston Chronicle, July 6, 2018
Reviving the War on Drugs is Exactly the Wrong Response to the Opioid Crisis, The Hill, April 13, 2018
Credit for Falling Crime, U.S. News & World Report, February 18, 2018
Readers sound off: No major impact from Trump on crime, USA Today, January 25, 2018
The Losing Politics of Fear, U.S.News & World Report, November 14, 2017
The Justice Department Paints Violent Crime With Too Broad a Brush, HuffPost, August 9, 2017
Jeff Sessions isn’t making America safer. He might be making it more dangerous. Washington Post, June 27, 2017
Congress Should Reverse Sessions on Criminal Justice and Drug War, The Hill, May 18, 2017
Crime Isn’t Out of Control. But the White House Wants You to Think It Is., Washington Post, March 1, 2017
To Sell Himself, Trump Relies on His Big ‘American Carnage’ Lie, The Daily Beast, February 16, 2017
Donald Trump’s A.G. Nominee Jeff Sessions Is a Threat to Justice, Time Magazine, January 6, 2017
Donald Trump Is Wrong -- America Is Safer Today Than It Has Been in Decades, Time Magazine, September 27, 2016
The Overlooked Promise in Hillary Clinton’s Speech, The Marshall Project, July 31, 2016
Why Donald Trump is Wrong About Crime, U.S. News & World Report, July 22, 2016
Democratic Leadership Is Missing in Action on Mass Incarceration,The Nation, May 31, 2016
No nationwide ‘Ferguson effect,’ but some cities languish in crime,Las Vegas Sun, March 27, 2016