Our Leadership
JIRN Executive Committee
JIRN is led by its Executive Committee and Executive Director. The Executive Committee is the elected governing body of the Justice Information Resource Network and is comprised of a president, vice president, secretary/treasurer, and three delegates.
2023-2025 JRSA Executive Committee
President
Stephen M. Haas, Ph.D.
Stephen M. Haas, Ph.D. is a nationally recognized expert in applied criminal justice research, program evaluation, and evidence-based practice implementation. He is the principal and owner of Mountain State Criminal Justice Research Services, LLC and serves as president of the Justice Information Resource Network (JIRN).
Dr. Haas brings more than 30 years of experience leading research, evaluation, and technical assistance initiatives at the national, state, and local levels. He has served as principal investigator or project director on more than 50 projects, helping justice agencies use data to improve performance, strengthen programs, and inform policy and funding decisions.
His work focuses on performance measurement, crime and victimization surveys, implementation science, risk and needs assessment validation, program quality assurance, and evidence-based practices in adult and juvenile corrections. He is particularly known for translating research into practical strategies that improve system effectiveness and outcomes for justice-involved individuals.
In addition to his research, Dr. Haas has led numerous training and technical assistance (TTA) efforts across government, nonprofit, and private sector organizations. He routinely provides consultation and training in core correctional practices, risk-needs-responsivity (RNR) principles, case planning, motivational interviewing, and cognitive-behavioral interventions.
Dr. Haas holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and political science from The Ohio State University and a master’s and doctorate in criminal justice from University of Cincinnati.
Vice President
Michelle Beck
Director
Criminal Justice Analysis Center (CJAC)
North Carolina Governor’s Crime Commission
michelle.beck@ncdps.gov
As Director of North Carolina’s Statistical Analysis Center, Michelle Beck manages all data-driven research and analysis projects on criminal justice. This includes publications and the development of the Justice Data Portal, to provide publicly available data at the state and county level for crime reports and traffic stops, with Adult Correction data to be added soon. Ms. Beck has over 30 years of experience working in research and program evaluation utilizing various quantitative and qualitative data collection and data analysis methodologies with knowledge of evidence-based practices. She has served on key criminal justice advisory taskforces and worked in multiple state agencies – Program Evaluation Division, NC General Assembly; State Center for Health Statistics; Department of Correction; Labor and Economic Analysis Division, NC Commerce; and Administrative Analysis, Department of Public Safety. Ms. Beck received her undergraduate degree and Master of Science in Sociology from N.C. State University.
Secretary/Treasurer
Lisa Shoaf, PhD
Director
Ohio Statistical Analysis Center
Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services
LShoaf@dps.ohio.gov
Lisa Shoaf received her Ph.D. in psychology from The Ohio State University in 2002. She began working at the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services (OCJS), a division of the Ohio Department of Public Safety, as a research analyst in 2002 and became Statistical Analysis Center director in 2004. Over the years, she has been involved in research, evaluation, and policy related to criminal justice issues such as the intersection of criminal justice and behavioral health, drug crimes and drug task forces, community-police relations, violence reduction initiatives, and deaths in custody reporting. She also helps to secure grant funds for the state’s criminal justice initiatives. Lisa represents OCJS on numerous committees and task forces, including the Attorney General’s Task Force on Criminal Justice and Mental Illness, the Stepping Up Ohio Initiative and the Ohio Criminal Sentencing Commission’s data subcommittee. She also served on the Council on Criminal Justice’s Crime Trends Working Group in 2024. Lisa is an active member of the Justice Information Resource Network (formerly Justice Statistics and Research Association). She served on its executive committee for several years, including two years as president, and is currently serving another term on the executive committee as secretary-treasurer.
Delegate
Christopher Henning, Ph.D.
Senior Research Analyst
Bureau of Justice Information and Analysis
Wisconsin Department of Justice
henningcj@doj.state.wi.us
Christopher has been a senior research analyst with the Wisconsin SAC at the Wisconsin Department of Justice since June of 2016. During that time he has been the principal investigator on a number of criminal justice research and data collection projects. He has extensive experience working with a variety of complex administrative data sets including, the Wisconsin Centralized Criminal History Repository (CCH), Wisconsin Circuit Court data, and data from the Wisconsin Incident Based Report System (WIBRS). This work also includes building a data warehouse, working with statistical models, and building interactive dashboards with BI tools. Christopher holds a PhD and an MSc from the University of Edinburgh and a BA from Lawrence University.
Delegate
Jack McDevitt, Ph.D.
Director of the Institute on Race and Justice and Associate Dean for Research in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities,
Northeastern University
j.mcdevitt@northeastern.edu
Jack McDevitt is the director of Northeastern’s Institute on Race and Justice. He is also the Associate Dean for Research in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities. McDevitt is the co-author of three books: Hate Crimes: The Rising Tide of Bigotry and Bloodshed, Hate Crime Revisited: American War on Those Who Are Different (both with Jack Levin), and Victimology (with Judy Sgarzy). He has spoken on hate crime, racial profiling, human trafficking, and security both nationally and internationally. He has testified as an expert witness before the Judiciary Committees of the U.S. Senate and The U.S. House of Representatives and as an invited expert at the White House. In January 2013, McDevitt was appointed by Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo to lead a special commission on gun violence.
Delegate
Kara Miller
Statistical Research Coordinator
Oklahoma Statistical Analysis Center
Kara.Miller@osbi.ok.gov
Kara Miller has been the Director of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation’s (OSBI) Statistical Analysis Center (SAC) since January 2022. Before being appointed SAC Director, Kara served as a Statistical Research Specialist in the SAC for just over three years. During her time in the SAC, she has worked to develop methods to query Oklahoma’s State Incident-Based Reporting System (SIBRS), participated and/or led grant-related research, and developed an online, public-facing website to display SIBRS data. Kara holds a Bachelor of Arts in Social Science and Organizational Studies, focusing on Sociology and Psychology. In addition to her bachelor’s degree, she has a Master of Arts in Crime and Intelligence Analysis from the University of Central Oklahoma.