b'Get to Know OJJDP Administrator ELIZABETH RYANLiz Ryan became Administrator of the OfficeSince 2020, Ms. Ryan has worked as a student of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Preventioninvestigative journalist with the Louisiana State on May 16, 2022, following appointment byUniversity Cold Case Project, focusing on the President Joseph R. Biden. Prior to leading OJJDP,murders of African Americans by the Ku Klux Klan Ms. Ryan served as president and CEO of theduring the civil rights era. She collaborated with Youth First Initiative, a national campaign focusedother Cold Case Project students onKillings on on ending the incarceration of youth by invest- Ticheli Road, a four-part narrative investigating the ing in community-based alternatives. Ms. Ryanmurders in 1960 of four Black men in Ouachita founded the Youth First Initiative in 2014; under herParish, LA. The reporters reconstructed the day leadership, it achieved the closure of youth prisonsof the murders and questioned local authorities in six states and redirected more than $50 millionfailure to prosecute the killer: the murdered mens to community-based alternatives to incarceration. employer, a white man who later became a Ms. Ryan founded the Campaign for Youthstatewide Klan leader. For their work, Ms. Ryan Justice in 2005 and served as its president andand the other Cold Case Project reporters were CEO until 2014. The national, multistate initiativenamed semifinalists for the 2022 Goldsmith Prize sought to end the prosecution of youth in adultfor Investigative Reporting, an award by the criminal courts and the placement of youth inHarvard Kennedy School for reporting that adult jails and prisons. During Ms. Ryans tenure,impacts U.S. public policy. They were the only the campaigns work led to legislative and policystudents recognized.changes in more than 30 states, a 60 percentMs. Ryan also worked with families of the decrease in the number of youth in adult courts,Martinsville Seven and other advocates to obtain and a greater-than 50 percent decrease in theposthumous pardons for seven young Black men number of youth placed in adult jails and prisons. who were executed in Virginia in 1951 for the A staunch advocate for youth, Ms. Ryanalleged rape of a white woman. Ms. Ryan and cofounded and cochaired Act 4 Juvenile Justice,her colleagues revisited the convictions, ultimately a campaign to reauthorize the Juvenile Justiceasserting that they were tinged by systemic racism, and Delinquency Prevention Act. She also serveda rush to judgment, and a lack of due process. The as advocacy director for the Youth Law Center,Virginia Governor issued posthumous pardons in national field director for OJJDPs Juvenile Court2021, saying the men did not deserve the death Centennial Initiative, and as an advocate forpenalty.the Childrens Defense Fund. She has writtenMs. Ryan earned a bachelors degree from extensively about juvenile justice reform, includingDickinson College and a masters degree in articles, editorials, reports, and chapters of books. International Studies from the George Washington University.5'