Dr. Cassandra Ramdath Joins the Justice Collaboratory at Yale Law School
New Haven, CT—The Justice Collaboratory at Yale Law School welcomes Dr. Cassandra Ramdath as a Research Scholar in Law and Research Director. Ramdath will lead research that advances transparency and trust across the justice system. She will serve as head researcher on an initiative with the state of Connecticut to develop and implement a Community Engagement Training (CET) Program for law enforcement.
“I am delighted to welcome Cassandra to the Justice Collaboratory. As a scholar, she has impressive expertise in interpersonal and institutional harm, systems reform, and transformative justice through participatory research methods,” said Caroline Nobo, Executive Director at the Justice Collaboratory. “Her extensive research in academic, government, and non-profit sectors, combined with her commitment to justice and safety will certainly elevate the JC’s impact. She is a fabulous mentor, and our research staff is thrilled to have her leading the team.”
Ramdath’s priority research project will be developing and evaluating an evidence-based training curriculum for Connecticut law enforcement centered on the three pillars of the National Initiative for Building Community Trust and Justice: procedural justice, implicit bias and reconciliation.
Over the past 15 years, Ramdath has led dozens of community-engaged, mixed-methods studies, from randomized controlled trials to oral histories. As the inaugural Director of Research at Georgetown Law’s Center for Innovations in Community Safety, she led a portfolio evaluating law enforcement training, Hospital based Violence Intervention Programs, and survivor-led storytelling. Prior, she served as senior researcher on the Urban Institute’s Prison Research and Innovation Initiative and on multiple studies at the Center for Justice Innovation examining gun violence, procedural justice, and diversion programs.
Ramdath earned her PhD in Criminal Justice from John Jay College (CUNY), with a dissertation on traumatic brain injury among incarcerated youth in Rikers Island. She holds an MA in Criminology from Bond University, Australia and a BA in Psychology and Criminology from the University of Ottawa, Canada. Born and raised in Toronto in an Indo-Caribbean family from Trinidad and Tobago, Dr. Ramdath brings a transnational, community-rooted lens to her scholarship.
Ramdath’s work appears in esteemed peer-reviewed journals, including JAMA, and national media outlets including Newsweek and The Hill.