Vera Institute of Justice

Don Stemen is an associate professor and chairperson in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology and a member of the Graduate Faculty at Loyola University, Chicago. Dr. Stemen received his PhD in law and society from the Institute for Law and Society at New York University in 2007. Before coming to Loyola, he was the director of research on sentencing and corrections at the Vera Institute of Justice, where he worked with state and county governments to reform criminal justice policies. Dr. Stemen's research focuses on sentencing and corrections issues, examining the innovation and diffusion of sentencing and corrections policies across the United States and the impact of those policies on criminal justice agencies, and prosecutorial decision making, exploring contextual factors affecting prosecutorial outcomes. His research has been supported through grants from the National Institute of Justice, the National Institute of Corrections, the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Open Society Foundations, and the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority.