Sarah Picard

Sarah Picard is a Research Director with the Center for Court Innovation. Her recent work focuses on policy level reform in the adult criminal justice context and how research evidence can best be translated into practice. Dr. Picard has extensive experience studying the use of actuarial risk assessment tools in court settings, including leading a randomized controlled trial of their application to drug court case planning and collaborating on the development and validation of assessment tools for early decision-making in high-volume courts. She is currently finalizing a study that models the potential impact of risk assessment on racial disparities in pretrial outcomes. Dr. Picard also co-leads the Center’s research and technical assistance work to reduce the use of jail nationally. Her past research includes mixed-methods evaluations of problem-solving initiatives ranging from community-based gun violence prevention models to drug and domestic violence courts. She received her Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from the Graduate Center at the City University of New York.