Vera Institute of Justice

Stephen Roberts leads a team of qualitative and quantitative researchers working with prosecutors and the communities they serve. The team measures the reach of prosecution into communities from system contact through mass incarceration; shines a bright light on disparate racial outcomes and their sources; and promotes transparency between the offices and communities. Their research emphasizes collaboration and participation with communities. Steve has been with Vera since 2012 and with the Reshaping Prosecution since 2018. At Vera, he has researched immigration, New Orleans pretrial services, prison segregation (solitary confinement), fines and fees, and jail decarceration. Steve specializes in quantitative research, particularly working with administrative data. Prior to Vera, Steve developed a public database of New York City’s subsidized affordable housing at NYU's Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy. He led the development of software for analyzing non-profit fundraising data for Target Analysis Group in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and developed software for the creators of the Case-Shiller Home Price Indexes. Steve has a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from NYU-Wagner, an MA in quantitative methods for social sciences from Columbia University, and a BA in economics from Bates College.