I was drawn to the Urban Institute to engage in public-facing research that informs criminal legal policies and practices. I believe people who have been directly affected by the carceral state hold important insights about how systems operate and can be reformed. Working at the Urban Institute allows me to prioritize community-engaged research methods that center the lived experiences of people under supervision and their families.
Bree Boppre is a senior research associate in the Justice and Safety Division at the Urban Institute. Her work focuses on how victimization, adversity, and trauma contribute to pathways through the criminal legal system and the impacts of incarceration on families.
With more than 10 years of applied research experience, Boppre has led several evaluation studies focused on community and juvenile correctional programs and sentencing policies, with a focus on addressing gendered, racial, and ethnic disparities in admissions and outcomes. She uses qualitative, quantitative, and community-engaged approaches. Boppre has authored more than 50 publications, including 20 peer-reviewed journal articles in outlets such as Justice Quarterly, Crime and Delinquency, and Criminal Justice and Behavior. She has been nationally recognized for her scholarship by the American Society of Criminology Division of Feminist Criminology.
Before joining Urban, Boppre worked in higher education as tenure-track faculty in Sam Houston State University’s Department of Victim Studies, where she continues to teach as an adjunct professor.
Boppre earned her BA from the University of Nevada, Reno; MS from Portland State University; and PhD from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Urban experts are permitted and empowered to work and affiliate with outside organizations, whether serving on boards, volunteering their time, or providing advice and counsel. And Urban welcomes visiting scholars, nonresident or affiliated fellows who work for other organizations. These outside affiliations enrich our perspectives and our learning environment. We also require all paid and unpaid experts to disclose their affiliations to Urban leadership and follow rules governing their engagement to ensure transparency for audiences and independence of experts.