Call for GSR Applications: Special Circumstances Conviction Project

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The UC Sentencing Project is hiring a GSR for the Life Without Parole – Special Circumstances Conviction Project

The UC Sentencing Project is hiring a GSR for the Life Without Parole – Special Circumstances Conviction Project

The UC Sentencing Project (UCSP) is a partnership across prison walls between faculty, staff, and students at UC San Diego and UCLA and currently and formerly incarcerated organizers with the California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP) and their allied group, the Felony Murder Elimination Project (FMEP).

The Special Circumstances Conviction Project (SCCP) is the quantitative arm of UCSP and provides data analysis and data reporting to community organizers, attorneys, and policymakers working to address extreme sentencing in California. Of particular importance to SCCP is Life Without Parole sentencing and the impact of special circumstances in criminal sentencing in California. Under California law, “special circumstances” delineate the conditions under which people can be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole (LWOP). Despite the severity of the sentence and its impact on California’s communities, there has been no comprehensive collection or analysis of what specific convictions have led to over 5000 people serving LWOP, nor how race, age, gender, and other factors may affect the sentences they receive. SCCP collects and analyzes data gleaned through Public Records Act Requests and disseminates findings to policymakers, non-governmental organizations, scholars, litigators and impacted communities.

The Project:

The Center for the Study of Women|Barbra Streisand Center is hiring a GSR to partner with SCCP to perform a comprehensive analysis of available special circumstance conviction records, collected through Public Records Acts to California District Attorney’s Offices, Superior Courts, and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

This data has been collated into a large dataset comprising every county in California. SCCP will prepare reports evaluating California’s criminal sentencing scheme and the resulting disparities in race, gender, county of conviction and age at sentencing. This data will be made of use to attorneys working on Racial Justice Act litigation and distributed to people in prisons to file motions to begin RJA processes.

Job Duties:

Duties will include, but are not limited to:

  • Data analysis – including cleaning, integration, analysis, review, summary and visualization
  • Procure data from online web services – (Superior Courts and CDCR)
  • Work collaboratively to strategize on how to utilize data to achieve specific project goals
  • Provide strategy for organizing and interpreting data in the service of project goals
  • Utilize existing public data sources to compare and contextualize special circumstance conviction statistics
  • Outline research reports and prepare draft analysis

Eligibility and Compensation:

Registered UCLA graduate student (master’s or doctorate) in the 2023-2024 academic year. The GSR must be registered as a full-time student (enrolled in a minimum of 12 units) during the academic year and maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0 throughout the duration of the appointment.

GSR salary is dependent on experience. This appointment is at 25% time. Expected start date is May 1, 2024 (or as soon as possible) through June 30, 2024. Appointment extension is possible depending on available work and satisfactory performance.

Required Qualifications:

  • Experience working with quantitative data sets – preference for individuals who can utilize data analysis programs (e.g., Stata, R)
  • Experience with cleaning, integration, analysis, review, summary and visualization
  • Experience communicating data analysis to diverse audiences

Preferred Qualifications

  • Interest in criminal legal reform, restorative justice, prison abolition
  • Attention to detail
  • Familiarity with criminal legal landscape
  • Demonstrated ability to work independently and as part of a collaborative team during meetings and discussions
  • Strong organizational skills, including:
    • Demonstrated ability to set and meet deadlines and priorities
    • Ability to organize and present information effectively and concisely

Application Materials:

  1. Cover letter (1-2 pages) with a brief description of the skills and experiences that make you an ideal candidate for this position
  2. Current CV or resume
  3. Names and contact information of two references

Submission Details and Deadline:

Please submit your application by email to Daniel Trautfield at dtrautfield@gmail.com. Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled. Interviews will begin as soon as possible.