Jocelyn Fontaine

Jocelyn is responsible for developing and managing research agendas and research projects that use rigorous social science methods that advance Arnold Ventures’ mission. She is committed to elevating the voices and perspectives of those most impacted by crime and the criminal legal system. She identifies research gaps and promising opportunities for research to inform policy reform and advance racial justice in several programmatic areas across the Criminal Justice Initiative.

Prior to joining Arnold Ventures, Jocelyn was a senior researcher in the Justice Policy Center at the Urban Institute, where she directed projects on corrections and reentry issues, gun violence, violence reduction programs, and police-community trust-building efforts. Jocelyn has significant expertise with multi-site evaluation studies, quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, interfacing with various justice system stakeholders, community groups and affected communities, and translating research evidence into policy and practice. Before joining Urban, Fontaine worked on corrections issues under the Pew Charitable Trusts's Public Safety Performance Project after working as a research assistant on violence and victimization issues in the Office of Research and Evaluation at the National Institute of Justice (U.S. Department of Justice).

Jocelyn received her doctorate in justice and public policy from the School of Public Affairs at the American University and her bachelor's in sociology/criminology from Villanova University.