Ellen McCann-Sfecla has been working in criminal and juvenile justice as a researcher and advocate for over 15 years. Ellen joined Choice Research Associates in 2021 as a research consultant on the Rise Project led by the Network for Victim Recovery of DC (NVRDC).  Ellen was the Co-Principal Investigator of the Crime Victim’s Rights in the Emergency Room (CVR-ER) project, which assessed NVRDC’s effort to expand access to crime victim's rights attorneys through a unique medical-legal partnership with Medstar Washington Hospital Center’s (MWHC) Community Violence Intervention Program (CVIP). 

After a short stint with the Library of Congress, supporting the Department of Defense in its work on Sexual Assault Prevention, in June 2022 Ellen accepted the position of Director of the Office of Research and Evaluation for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and continues to be a volunteer in reviewing materials and brainstorming projects, even if not in an official capacity with CRA. 

Prior to her experience working with the Library of Congress, Ellen was a Senior Research Manager for the Alliance for Safety and Justice, coordinating with and working across all of the teams in the organization, producing rapid response research summaries, short- and medium-term estimates and impact assessments for policy and legislation, and long-term research products to lift up shared safety priorities for those most impacted by crime. 

Ellen was also previously engaged as the Senior Statistician for the DC Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, responding to multi-agency policy and research questions to inform smart system improvements across federal and city partners on questions of violence, juvenile justice, corrections, sentencing, recidivism, and policing. Before her tenure with DC, she was the State Data Manager for the Pew Charitable Trusts working in Justice Reinvestment in several states working to use research, data, and analyses to improve juvenile and adult corrections. Ellen also spent time as a Detention Specialist in the NJ Juvenile Justice Commission, working with the Annie E Casey Foundation on the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative. She received her PhD in Criminal Justice from Rutgers University, and currently teaches as an adjunct professor at George Washington University, with more than 20 years of college teaching experience around the country.