October 3, 2012
The National Juvenile Justice Network is happy to welcome Ms. Catherine Conly as the director of our Fiscal Policy Center. She has more than 20 years of experience researching and preparing reports on juvenile and criminal justice topics and has presented findings to decision-makers at all levels of government.
Ms. Conly has worked as a private consultant, where she investigated the role of race in sentencing decisions in several Maryland counties; andas director of Maryland’s Statistical Analysis Center (SAC). In that capacity, she testified before the Maryland General Assembly on numerous occasions, prepared a report on the use of juvenile waivers in the state, and appeared before a subcommittee of the U. S. Senate to discuss the implications of using juvenile records in criminal proceedings.
After leaving state government, Ms. Conly joined Abt Associates Inc., where she participated in several large-scale, program evaluations and managed a task order contract for the National Institute of Justice. As a principal investigator on that contract, Ms. Conly prepared reports on such topics as youth gangs, children of incarcerated parents, reentry assistance for severely ill inmates, community-based crime prevention strategies, and health and mental health care for people in the justice system.
Most recently, Ms. Conly participated in the national evaluation of the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative, a multi-disciplinary approach to meeting the social, emotional, and behavioral health needs of children and youth; preventing violence and substance use; and encouraging healthy child development. Cathy has a B.A. in Criminal Justice from the University of Delaware and an M.A. in Criminology from the University of Maryland.
Photo: Idit Knaan