Erin Kennedy

Erin Kennedy is a research analyst for RTI’s Center for Criminal Legal System Research. Currently, she serves as principal investigator for the Federal Deaths in Custody Reporting Program (FDCRP), which collects data on arrest-related and in-custody deaths from federal law enforcement agencies. She also serves as a task leader on multiple projects, including on the Annual Surveys of Probation and Parole and the National Inmate Survey. Additionally, Ms. Kennedy is a site coach for a project designed to provide evaluation and sustainability training and technical assistance to Second Chance Act grantees. She is also a site liaison and analyst on Advancing Pretrial Policy and Research, which focuses on working with criminal professionals to improve their pretrial justice systems in ways that prioritize the safety of their communities, promote racial justice, and ensure that incarceration is reserved only for those who jeopardize public safety. She is a project manager and interviewer on an intervention designed to reduce victimization of adults via mass marketing scams.

She is an expert in qualitative data collection, including cognitive interviews, semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Ms. Kennedy conducts qualitative analysis using NVivo and Atlas.ti and programs and administers surveys with REDCap and Alchemer. She has extensive experience as a site liaison, working directly with grantees on various issues, including training and technical assistance (TTA), evaluation and sustainability support, project reporting requirements, local data collection logistics, and peer learning coordination. Additionally, she has experience as a crisis hotline operator.

Before joining RTI in 2006, Ms. Kennedy served as project manager and analyst, having managed project budgets, schedules, and deliverables; analyzed data; and trained grantees on program requirements.