Community Resources for Justice (CRJ) President and CEO Deb O’Brien announced the selection of Spurgeon Kennedy, president of the National Association of Pretrial Services Agencies (NAPSA), to lead the Crime and Justice Institute (CJI). CJI is a division of CRJ and a nationally recognized leader in advancing equity and evidence-based justice system reform.
Kennedy’s previous positions include Program Director with the Justice Management Institute (JMI), co-Interim Director of Harris County Pretrial Services (under contract with JMI), Deputy Director of Operations and Director of the Office of Strategic Development for the Pretrial Services Agency for the District of Columbia, Programs Manager with the National Institute of Justice, and Senior Associate with the Pretrial Services Resource Center. He serves as NAPSA’s president, where he works to establish pretrial justice as the norm in American courtrooms. Apart from his time with NAPSA, throughout his career, Kennedy has provided technical assistance and support to justice systems and organizations on issues such as improving pretrial decision-making, implementing outcome and performance metrics, and developing and expanding access to pretrial service agencies, alternatives to incarceration, pretrial diversion, and caseload analysis. He has also served as a facilitator and training faculty member for agencies such as NAPSA, the National Institute of Corrections, the National Institute of Justice, the American Probation and Parole Association, the Office on Violence Against Women, and state and federal court, pretrial, and corrections organizations.
“Spurgeon has spent his over 40-year career advocating for legal, fair, and effective practices that respect the rights of justice-involved individuals and the safety of local communities,” O’Brien said. “His experience, passion, and dedication to the field of justice system reform make him not just a good fit to lead CJI, but the right fit. We are excited to welcome him to the team and for the opportunity to have him use his expertise to lead this critically important work forward.”