Vera Institute of Justice

Alessandra Meyer returned to Vera as a program associate in the Center on Youth Justice in October 2012. She previously worked with CYJ, leaving in July 2009 to pursue a double masters degree in social work and public policy at Columbia University. During her first year at Vera, she helped staff then-New York Governor Paterson’s Task Force on Transforming Juvenile Justice, conducting dozens of interviews with state officials and national experts on placement reform. Over the past three years, she’s worked on various initiatives focused on juvenile and criminal justice policy, including internships with the Legal Aid Society’s Juvenile Services Unit, the Red Hook Community Justice Center, and the Drug Policy Alliance. She also helped to co-produce the 2012 Sundance Award-winning documentary The House I Live In, an examination of the U.S. war on drugs.