Experienced Attorney to Lead Center’s Efforts to Support Prosecutors in Making Communities Safe and Fair

March 8, 2023 • New York, NY — The John Jay College of Criminal Justice proudly names Rachel Marshall as the new Director of the Institute for Innovation in Prosecution IIP), a bipartisan think tank  that brings together prosecutors, policy experts, and the communities they serve to promote data-driven strategies, cutting-edge scholarship, and innovations that support safety and justice. 

“Rachel brings to the IIP a great deal of experience in criminal justice reform and innovation, including experience partnering with practitioners, elected officials and community partners to develop and  implement policies that make communities safer and more equitable,” said John Jay President Karol V. Mason. “As Director of IIP, Rachel will build on IIP’s core mission of ensuring that prosecutors have the tools they need to engage deeply with their communities and implement solutions to key public safety challenges, from effectively addressing violent crime to creating diversion programs to supporting the needs of victims.” 

Before coming to John Jay, Marshall served as Director of Communications and Policy Advisor, as well as an Assistant District Attorney, at the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office under San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin. In addition to handling all media and office communications, Marshall played a key role in conceiving and implementing policy, legal, and strategic decisions for the office. 

Prior to joining the District Attorney’s Office, Marshall spent more than eight years working as a public defender in Oakland, where she litigated felony, misdemeanor, and juvenile cases at all stages of the criminal process. 

“I am thrilled to be leading the IIP and to support prosecutors in implementing evidence-based reforms that make communities safer,” said Rachel Marshall, Director of the IIP.  “Too often, criminal justice reform has been framed as antithetical to public safety—when in fact criminal justice reform drives public safety.  I am eager to work with prosecutors with a wide range of perspectives, experiences, and political ideologies in implementing data-driven policies. I can think of no more critical time to do this work than now and no better place to do it than at John Jay College.”

Marshall graduated from Stanford Law School and Brown University.  Following law school, Marshall clerked for the Honorable David O. Carter in the Central District of California.  Between college and law school, she spent three years teaching high school U.S. history in the Bronx.

The IIP believes prosecutors, working with communities, are well-positioned to lead criminal justice efforts and drive innovative efforts and reforms. IIP helps prosecutors achieve this through convenings, policy papers, and trainings and has focused on a range of issues relevant to prosecutors including violent crime, crime survivors, officer-involved fatalities, prosecution in rural and suburban communities and racial equity. IIP has also supported trainings on trauma-informed prosecution, procedural justice and prosecutor well-being. 

About John Jay College of Criminal Justice
An international leader in educating for justice, John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York is a Hispanic Serving Institution and Minority Serving Institution offering a rich liberal arts and professional studies curriculum to 15,000 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 135 nations. John Jay is home to faculty and research centers at the forefront of advancing criminal and social justice reform. In teaching, scholarship and research, the College engages the theme of justice and explores fundamental human desires for fairness, equality and the rule of law. For more information, visit www.jjay.cuny.edu.

About the Institute for Innovation in Prosecution
The Institute for Innovation in Prosecution at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (IIP) provides a collaborative national platform that brings together prosecutors, policy experts, and the communities they serve to promote data-driven strategies, cutting-edge scholarship, and innovative thinking.  The IIP is dedicated to criminal justice that promotes community-centered standards of safety, fairness, and dignity.