Alumnus/Alumna of the Month

Jeremy Travis (’82)

Read an Interview with Jeremy Travis.

Jeremy Travis is the President of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, and author of the recently published book But They All Come Back: Facing the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry. Prior to his appointment as President in 2004, Travis served four years as a Senior Fellow affiliated with the Justice Policy Center at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C., where he launched a national research program focused on prisoner reentry into society and initiated agendas on crime in a community context, sentencing and international crime.

From 1994-2000, Travis directed the National Institute of Justice, the research arm of the U.S. Department of Justice. Nominated by President Clinton and confirmed by the Senate, Travis reinvigorated the agency, managing the growth of its annual budget from $25 million to $120 million and placing it at the cutting edge of research. He established major initiatives to assess crime trends, evaluated federal anti-crime efforts, fostered community policing and new law enforcement technologies, advanced forensic sciences -- including DNA testing -- and bolstered research on counter-terrorism strategies.

Prior to his service in Washington, Travis was Deputy Commissioner for Legal Matters for the NYPD, Chief Counsel to the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Special Advisor to New York City Mayor Edward I. Koch, Assistant Director for Law Enforcement Services for the Mayor’s Office of Operations, and Special Counsel to the Police Commissioner of the NYPD.

Before joining city government, Travis spent a year as a law clerk to then-U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, currently a member of the United States Supreme Court. He was the Marden and Marshall Fellow in Criminal Law at NYU School of Law, Executive Director of the NYC Criminal Justice Agency from 1977-79 and served six years at the Vera Institute of Justice.

Travis has taught courses on criminal justice, public policy, history and law at Yale College, the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York Law School and George Washington University. In addition to his recent book, Travis has co-edited two books and published numerous book chapters, articles, and monographs on constitutional law, criminal law and criminal justice policy.

Travis earned a J.D., cum laude, from the NYU School of Law, and an M.P.A. from the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. He received a B.A., cum laude, in American Studies, from Yale College.