Gretchen Bennett

Gretchen Bennett has over 20 years of experience working on justice system issues at the state and national levels. Gretchen’s work at CJI is focused on state-level policy and practice changes driven by evidence-based research and data. Gretchen previously was the Executive Director of the New England Innocence Project, using forensic science to free factually innocent people from incarceration and working on justice policy reforms in the six New England states. She also served as Chief Counsel to the Joint Committee on the Judiciary in the Massachusetts legislature, where she was a primary author of justice reform legislation signed into law in 2018. She has authored several publications, made guest appearances on radio, presented at numerous conferences, and held trainings for law enforcement, lawyers, judges, and legislators in the US and Canada on justice system issues. Gretchen’s passion is connecting stakeholders with myriad viewpoints and experiences and working with them to find consensus on justice system reforms using data and evidence-based examples and information. Gretchen has a Juris Doctorate from Boston University School of Law and a Bachelor’s degree from Harvard.