Senior Researcher, Criminal Justice

FULL-TIME JOB VACANCY Senior Researcher, Criminal Justice United States Program Multiple US Locations Considered Application Deadline: July 13 th , 2026 The Opportunity The United States Program (USP) of Human Rights Watch (HRW) is seeking a Senior Researcher to play a leadership role within the US Program in identifying, researching, and advocating to change key US human rights issues as they relate to criminal justice. The US Program works to advance human rights in three priority areas -- criminal justice, immigration, and democracy -- in ways that center racial justice and equity. In partnership with allied organizations, USP undertakes research and provides expertise to evaluate ongoing human rights violations in the US, identifies goals and targets for remedy, and engages in advocacy for change. In addition to its own work, USP collaborates with the multiple HRW thematic and regional divisions that work in the United States as well. The Senior Researcher will lead USP’s criminal justice research and advocacy. This role reports to the Director of the US Program, based in New York. The successful candidate will be based within commuting distance of one of HRW’s US offices (New York, Washington DC, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles, or San Francisco) and may be expected to work from office up to 3 days per week. Candidate Profile : The Senior Researcher should have demonstrated experience and deep subject matter expertise in criminalization; policing, use of force, and other law enforcement practices; racial justice and systemic discrimination, including racial profiling; due process and other criminal legal system processes; and accountability for police misconduct and other law enforcement harms. The ideal candidate will have strong qualitative and quantitative research skills, including legal analysis, policy review, and data interpretation and will have demonstrated expertise in designing and leading complex research projects from inception through publication. The ideal candidate should be a recognized expert in the area of criminal justice and related topics with the experience of being consulted by policymakers, journalists, academics, activists, and others interested in US criminal justice concerns. Responsibilities : Monitor legal and policy developments, identify and highlight criminal legal system-related human rights trends and emerging issues, and analyze abuses within the broader political, social, and economic context to investigate factors contributing to abuses and avenues for effective change in the US; Lead internal HRW policy discussions on issues relevant to their work; Make recommendations to the US Program regarding the strategic research and advocacy projects it should prioritize regarding criminal justice, and develop and lead on those projects; Research, monitor, analyze policies and practices, and document human rights concerns at multiple levels of the US criminal justice system by interviewing directly affected persons (e.g. communities targeted by relevant policies, prisoners and their families, victims of crimes), as well as professional and experts (e.g. defense attorneys, prosecutors, law enforcement and government officials, academics, and criminal justice policy experts) and undertaking desk research (e.g. reviewing media articles, studies, reports, caselaw, orders, and regulations), as well as filing public records requests and accessing public documents and data; Write accurate, unbiased, comprehensive, and timely reports that include strategic policy reform recommendations, as well as multimedia products, briefing papers, regulatory, policy, or legislative comments, advocacy letters, news releases, op-eds, and submissions to national and international bodies, using a human rights lens, in a concise and accurate manner, on criminal justice human rights issues in the US; Work closely with coalitions led by partners; including working with existing coalitions or through building new alliances, b