Dean’s Lecture Series

On February 9, 2026, the Rutgers School of Criminal Justice hosted the inaugural installment of the Dean’s Lecture Series featuring nationally recognized leader in justice reform, Jeremy Travis, on how our responses to crime should protect and promote human dignity.

“Scholars, advocates, jurists and activists often critique the criminal justice system for its violations of ‘human dignity. What do we mean by human dignity? What if we took seriously the aspiration that our responses to crime should protect and promote human dignity? How might this goal guide the future of justice reform?” – Jeremy Travis

The event, free and open to the public, was held at Rutgers-Newark Fiserv Innovation Hub (iHub) on the campus of Rutgers-Newark.

Jeremy Travis is a nationally recognized leader in the justice reform movement. He currently serves as Senior Fellow at the Institute for State and Local Governance at the City University of New York (CUNY ISLG), working with ISLG staff on a variety of research projects ranging from police accountability to prison reform.

Travis began his career as a paralegal at the Legal Aid Society, worked on demonstration projects at the Vera Institute of Justice, was the founding director of the New York City Criminal Justice Agency, served as the Deputy Commissioner for Legal Matters at the NYPD and as a Special Advisor to the Mayor of New York City.

At the federal level, he served as law clerk to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, when she sat on the Court of Appeals, Chief Counsel to the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Chair of the Committee on Law and Justice of the National Research Council, and as the Senate-confirmed Director of the National Institute of Justice, nominated by President Bill Clinton. He also served as a Senior Fellow at the Urban Institute, the President of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY), and Executive Vice President for Criminal Justice at Arnold Ventures. Most recently, he was a Senior Fellow at the Columbia University Justice Lab.

Travis earned his JD and MPA from New York University and his BA from Yale College and has been elected to membership in the Council on Criminal Justice and the National Association of Public Administration. He has authored or co-edited five books and dozens of articles, book chapters, lectures and opinion pieces, which can be found at jeremytravis.me.