The Knapp Social Science Center welcomes Anne Morrison Piehl for the second annual Knapp Lecture. Piehl is a professor in the Department of Economics and director of the Program in Criminal Justice at Rutgers University, and is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Piehl's research focuses on the economics of crime and criminal justice. Nearly one-fourth of those incarcerated in the world on any given day are in American jails and prisons. In this unexpected moment of bipartisan concern about whether criminal justice policies in the U.S. are both fair and effective, Piehl examines which aspects of law enforcement practice may be most promising for reform. The way in which the criminal justice system has operated over the past 30 years has erected a number of impediments to dramatically reducing the rate of incarceration. She identifies these challenges and points to the commitments that will be necessary to achieve lasting change. Her current research analyzes the causes and consequences of the prison population boom, determinants of criminal sentencing outcomes, and the connections between immigration and crime, both historically and currently.

In addition to her position at Rutgers, Piehl is also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Piehl serves on the on two committees of the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, a standing Committee on Law and Justice and an ad-hoc committee on the Causes and Consequences of High Rates of Incarceration. She has testified before the United States Sentencing Commission and the U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on Immigration and served on the New Jersey Commission on Government Efficiency and Reform (GEAR) Corrections/Sentencing Task Force. Before joining Rutgers in 2005, she was on the faculty of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and has also been a visiting professor at the University of Michigan Law School. She received her A.B. from Harvard University and her Ph.D. from Princeton University, both in economics (rutgers.edu). 

This event is free and open to the public.