Vera Institute of Justice

Hernan was a program analyst for Vera's Center on Youth Justice, where he worked on improving conditions of confinement, including efforts to support the incorporation of youth voices in facility-based and statewide juvenile justice policy reform. Carvente graduated from the CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice with a degree in criminal justice, where he founded and contines to assist the Youth Justice Club. Outside of Vera and John Jay, Hernan is a member of the New York State Juvenile Justice Advisory Group and is the northeast regional representative for the Coalition for Juvenile Justice’s (CJJ) National Youth Committee. He also serves on advisory boards with the National Academies of Science and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. His goal to advance efforts to reform the structure of the U.S. criminal justice system stems from his own experiences in the juvenile justice system. In May 2013, he was awarded the Spirit of Youth Award by CJJ and, in December 2014, he was awarded the Next Generation Champion for Change Award by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.