Selected work

Research that answered
a practical question.

A short, curated selection—organized by the questions agencies and funders actually ask. The full record is in the CV.

PeopleSelected workGovernment & partners
Courts & pretrial justice

Does pretrial detention change what happens next?

A week or more in pretrial detention has measurable criminogenic and punitive effects.DeMichele, Silver & Labrecque (2024). Locked up and awaiting trial. Criminology & Public Policy. Read ↗
Can jurisdictions detain fewer people without increasing arrests?DeMichele, Silver & Labrecque (2024). Smart decarceration. Crime & Delinquency. Read ↗
Is the Public Safety Assessment biased by race, sex, or age? A multi-site test.DeMichele, Silver, Labrecque, Dawes, Lattimore & Tueller (2024). Criminal Justice & Behavior; see also DeMichele & Baumgartner (2021), Crime & Delinquency, and DeMichele et al. (2020), Criminology & Public Policy. Read ↗
How much criminal history does a pretrial risk tool actually need?DeMichele, Inkpen, Silver & Walker (2024). How long is long enough. Justice Quarterly. Read ↗
Can deep learning predict violence during pretrial release—and should it?DeMichele, Silver & Parkin (2026). Learning to predict violence. Criminology & Public Policy, 25(3).
How do courts actually change culture during pretrial reform?Comfort, Tibaduiza, Embry & DeMichele (2025). There is a common thread. Journal of Criminal Justice, 99. Read ↗
Corrections & community supervision

What does supervision require of officers—and of the people supervised?

Where does a probation officer’s day actually go?DeMichele & Payne (2018). Taking officer time seriously. Probation Journal, 65(1). Read ↗
What do national data tell us about parole revocations and reform?DeMichele, Scaggs, Scott & Kennedy (2019). Perspectives, 43(2); and DeMichele et al. (2017), What is known and unknown about probation populations. Perspectives, 41(4).
Do swift-and-certain sanctions work, and what do they cost?Cowell, Barnosky, Lattimore, Cartwright & DeMichele (2018). Economic evaluation of the HOPE demonstration field experiment. Criminology & Public Policy, 17. Read ↗
Electronic monitoring: a tool, not a silver bullet.DeMichele (2014). Criminology & Public Policy, 13; and DeMichele (2020), Research considerations for electronic technologies in community supervision, Routledge.
Policing, public safety & data systems

Can justice data be linked and modernized without compromising privacy?

A semi-supervised tool for coding multi-jurisdictional criminal-justice data.DeMichele, Silver, Preiss & Baumgartner (2026). Modernizing criminal justice data. American Journal of Criminal Justice.
How much does criminal history explain racial differences at arraignment?Grodensky, Silver & DeMichele (2025). Journal of Criminal Justice, 96. Read ↗
Using satellite-derived environmental data to study the micro-spatial ecology of crime.DeMichele & Freilich (2026). Justice Quarterly.
Security & violence prevention

How do people enter, leave, and respond to violence?

Why identity residue makes leaving extremism so hard.Simi, Blee, DeMichele & Windisch (2017). Addicted to hate. American Sociological Review, 82(6). Read ↗
Why white supremacist women become disillusioned, and why they leave. Sociological Quarterly Best Article, 2019–20Latif, Blee, DeMichele, Simi & Alexander (2020). Sociological Quarterly, 61(3). Read ↗
Becoming an ex-extremist: stopping the hate and building a new identity.DeMichele, Simi & Blee (2024). British Journal of Criminology. Read ↗
How do civilians behave in the minutes after a bombing?Parkin, Roberts, DeMichele & Corder (2025). Terrorism and Political Violence. Read ↗
From civic engagement to political violence: a continuum of predictors.DeMichele & Parkin. The political action continuum. Justice Quarterly (online).

Research programs led

Prior experience,
by program.

Major studies directed by Ponte’s founder. Listed to show the scale and kind of work he has run—national statistical collections, multi-site evaluations, and applied modeling—not as Ponte contracts.

2015 – 2026
Annual Surveys of Probation and Parole

National and state statistics on adults under community supervision, collected from ~450 probation and 55 parole reporters. Principal investigator.

Bureau of Justice Statistics · $6.0M
2019 – 2025
Advancing Pretrial Policy and Research

Multi-site research program to improve pretrial risk assessment, practice, and outcomes, including validation of the Public Safety Assessment. Project director / co-PI.

Arnold Ventures · $12.0M
2014 – 2019
Evaluation of the Safety + Justice Challenge

Multi-level evaluation of a national network of jurisdictions working to reduce reliance on jails. Project director / co-PI.

MacArthur Foundation · $8.0M
2022 – 2025
Behavioral Responses to Targeted Attacks at Soft Targets & Crowded Spaces

Agent-based modeling of how civilians and first responders react to IED and active-shooter events, to inform protective planning. Principal investigator.

DHS Science & Technology · $5.0M
2021 – 2025
National Pretrial Reporting Program

Documenting felony case processing and pretrial release and detention in the 200 largest U.S. jurisdictions. Principal investigator.

Bureau of Justice Statistics · $3.0M
2018 – 2023
Evaluation of Countering Violent Extremism Programs

Multi-site evaluation of state, local, and nongovernmental prevention programs. Principal investigator.

DHS Science & Technology · $3.0M
2024 – 2027
Mapping Support for Violent Extremism in the United States

National survey overlaid on a synthetic U.S. population to study the spatial distribution of support for political violence. Principal investigator.

National Institute of Justice · $1.2M
2025 – 2026
Modeling the Criminal Case Process with Linked State and Local Data

Privacy-preserving record linkage to integrate case- and person-level justice records for case-processing research. Principal investigator.

National Science Foundation · $590K
2012 – 2013
Probation Officer Workload Study, Indiana

Workload requirements across 25 adult and juvenile probation departments, using interviews, officer surveys, and a time-and-motion study. Co-PI.

Bureau of Justice Assistance · $600K
2007 – 2009
Workload Allocation for Community Corrections Officers (Phases I–II)

National tools and time estimates to help agencies conduct workload evaluations across 17 case types. Principal investigator / co-PI.

Bureau of Justice Assistance · $900K

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