Freakonomics for Criminal Justice:  Our Discussion with Economist Jennifer Doleac

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Jennifer Doleac is a Stanford-educated economist, a former college economics professor, and the author of The Science of Second Chances:  A Revolution in Criminal Justice, published by Henry Holt and Company and available in print as of February 24, 2026.  

We spoke with Jennifer about her new book, which isbilled as “Freakonomics for criminal justice,” and explores real-world experiments that suggest what policy changes and incentives offer the greatest hope of true criminal justice reform.  Doleac takes the reader through each stage of the criminal justice process, from arrest, to prison, and release, to identify data-driven solutions to make our society both safer and less punitive at the same time.  

Doleac is the Executive Vice President of Criminal Justice at Arnold Ventures, a philanthropy focusing on evidence-based public policy.  She is also a frequent contributor to The Washington Post, Time, and Bloomberg Opinion, and host of the Probable Causation podcast on law, economics, and crime.