James Trudeau

James Trudeau is a chief scientist in RTI’s Center for Community Safety and Crime Prevention where he serves as the senior advisor for STOP School Violence Program: Support of the North Carolina Center for Safer schools—an initiative to enhance the NC-CSS through needs assessment, comprehensive review of existing materials and resources, and trainings and toolkits for various approaches. He also serves as the Principal Investigator for the Evaluation of Project Safe Neighborhoods. The evaluation of the PSN initiative supports partnerships among criminal justice agencies to develop and implement strategic responses reduce violent crime in 94 US Attorney districts.

Dr. Trudeau is an expert in design and management of evaluations of complex programs and initiatives, planning and oversight of statistical analyses, and presenting results and recommendations to multiple audiences. As the Senior Advisor for the Randomized Evaluation of a Comprehensive, Whole-School Intervention for Discipline Disparities project, he informs the use of a three-pronged approach (positive behavior intervention supports, restorative practices, and culturally responsive practices) to reduce suspensions and expulsions among African American males in high school. He also evaluates the implementation, cost and outcomes of school-based health serves in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in his role as the Principal Investigator for the School Safety and Mental Health Services in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools project.

Prior to joining RTI, Dr. Trudeau served as the Deputy Director of the National Institute of Justice’s extramural research and evaluation programs in the areas of violence, corrections, courts, sentencing, criminal behavior, and victimization. He is a member of Advancing School Mental Health, American Evaluation Association, American Society of Criminology and has been published in numerous journals.