Joel Capellan

Joel Capellan is an Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at John Jay College, City University of New York. His research and policy work focus on gun violence, the intersection of race and policing, and rigorous policy evaluation.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Criminal Justice, CUNY Graduate Center/John Jay College, 2016

Research Interests:

Capellan’s scholarship centers on three interlocking domains:

• Gun violence epidemiology: analyzing patterns, risk factors, and intervention impacts.
• Race and policing: exploring disparities in law-enforcement practices and their societal consequences.
• Policy evaluation: developing evidence-based assessments of criminal-justice reforms in the United States and Central America.

His work has been featured in national outlets such as The Guardian, NPR, New York Magazine, Univision, and ABC News, underscoring its policy relevance and public impact.

Scientific Awards & Recognitions:

• Appointment to the New Jersey and Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium by Governor Phil Murphy.
• Co-Principal Investigator role on the Academy for Security Analysis—a USAID-funded program training public-safety and civil-society actors across Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala.

Grants & Collaborative Projects:

As Co-PI of the Academy for Security Analysis, Capellan secured and managed USAID funding to deliver specialized courses in Policing, Data Analysis, Policy Evaluation, and Spatial Crime Analysis. He partnered with the Supreme Court of Honduras (Poder Judicial), the National Police (Secretaria de Seguridad), the Department of Education (Secretaria de Educacion), the Mancomunidad de Atlantida, and the NGO Jovenes Contra la Violencia to implement and evaluate crime-reduction initiatives.

Current Roles:

Capellan serves as Research Director for the Inmate Survey and Accusatorial Transition Report, a region-wide study generating unprecedented data on inmate experiences, judicial processes, and prison conditions in Central America.