Biography

Dr. Joan Petersilia has spent more than 25 years studying the performance of U.S. criminal justice agencies and has been instrumental in affecting sentencing and corrections reform in California and throughout the United States. She is the author of 11 books about crime and public policy, and her research on parole reform, prisoner reintegration and sentencing policy has fueled changes in policies throughout the nation. A criminologist with a background in empirical research and social science, Dr. Petersilia is also faculty co-director for the Stanford Criminal Justice Center (SCJC), focusing on policies related to crime control, sentencing, and corrections, and developing nonpartisan analyses and recommendations intended to aid public officials, legal practitioners, and the public in understanding criminal justice policy at the state and national levels.

Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty, Dr. Petersilia was a professor of criminology, law and society in the School of Social Ecology at the University of California, Irvine, and director of UCI’s Center for Evidence-Based Corrections. She also previously served as a special advisor to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, helping to reorganize juvenile and adult corrections and working with the California State Legislature to implement prison and parole reform. She recently chaired Governor Schwarzenegger’s Rehabilitation Strike Team and was also co-chair of California’s expert panel on offender programs. Dr. Petersilia is a former director of the Criminal Justice Program at the RAND Corporation; former president of the American Society of Criminology; former co-director of the National Research Council’s study on Community Supervision and Desistance from Crime; and former director of the National Research Council’s study on Crime Victims with Developmental Disabilities.

Key Works

• Petersilia, Joan, When Prisoners Come Home: Parole and Prisoner Reentry, New York: Oxford University Press, 2009 (originally published 2003).
• Joan Petersilia, Influencing Public Policy: An Embedded Criminologist Reflects on California Prison Reform, 4 Journal of Experimental Criminology 335 (2008).
• Joan Petersilia, Ryken Grattet, and Jeffrey Lin, Parole Violations and Revocations in California, Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice, October 2008.
• Joan Petersilia, California's Correctional Paradox of Excess and Deprivation, in Crime and Justice: A Review of Research, Michael Tonry, ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008.
• Joan Petersilia, Richard Rosenfeld, et. al., Parole, Desistance from Crime, and Community Integration, Washington, DC: National Academies Press (Committee on Community Supervision and Desistance from Crime), 2007.
• Joan Petersilia, Understanding California Corrections (CPRC Policy Research Program Report), Berkeley, CA: California Policy Research Center, 2006.
• Joan Petersilia and James Q. Wilson, Crime: Public Policies for Crime Control, San Francisco: ICS Press, 2004.
• Joan Petersilia, Community Corrections: Probation, Parole, and Intermediate Sanctions, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.

In the News

• An Expert Discusses Prisoner Reentry
  Center for Court Innovation, November 09, 2009
• Parole Holds Key To California Prison Overcrowding
  The Christian Science Monitor, September 27, 2009
• Time's Up For Schwarzenegger On Prison Plan
  Los Angeles Times, September 18, 2009
• Do Early-Release Programs Raise The Crime Rate?
  Time, September 14, 2009
• Can The Wrongs In California's Criminal Justice System Be Righted?
  Los Angeles Times, September 04, 2009

Courses & Programs

Courses

• Sentencing, Corrections, and Criminal Justice Policy

Programs

• Stanford Criminal Justice Center (SCJC), Professor of Law

Publications & Cases

• Petersilia, Joan, When Prisoners Come Home: Parole and Prisoner Reentry, New York: Oxford University Press, 2009 (originally published 2003).
• Joan Petersilia, Influencing Public Policy: An Embedded Criminologist Reflects on California Prison Reform, 4 Journal of Experimental Criminology 335 (2008).
• Joan Petersilia, Ryken Grattet, and Jeffrey Lin, Parole Violations and Revocations in California, Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice, October 2008.
• Joan Petersilia, California's Correctional Paradox of Excess and Deprivation, in Crime and Justice: A Review of Research, Michael Tonry, ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008.
• Joan Petersilia, Richard Rosenfeld, et. al., Parole, Desistance from Crime, and Community Integration, Washington, DC: National Academies Press (Committee on Community Supervision and Desistance from Crime), 2007.
• Joan Petersilia and Robert Weisberg. Slammer Time - Why Rush To Build More Prisons When Other Options Cost Less?, Sacramento Bee, July 23, 2006, Forum section, page E2.
• Joan Petersilia, Understanding California Corrections (CPRC Policy Research Program Report), Berkeley, CA: California Policy Research Center, 2006.
• Joan Petersilia and Robert Weisberg. Parole in California: It’s a Crime, Los Angeles Times, April 23, 2006, p. M2.
• Joan Petersilia and James Q. Wilson, Crime: Public Policies for Crime Control, San Francisco: ICS Press, 2004.
• Joan Petersilia, Community Corrections: Probation, Parole, and Intermediate Sanctions, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.