Matthew Collinson Adjunct Instructor Department of Justice, Law & Criminology
- Additional Positions at AU
- Adjunct Professor, JLC
- Project Dirctor, SPA
- Degrees
- MHS Public Mental Health - Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
BSc Biochemistry - University of Leicester - Bio
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Matt Collinson is an adjunct professor in the School of Public Affairs’ department of Justice Law and Criminology, where he teaches an undergraduate class on the history and purpose of the legal system, and a graduate level course on pre-trial justice, jails, bail and risk assessments. All his classes explore the role of racism and racial bias in the administration of justice, and challenge students to fight for a more equitable, less racist and radically reimagined system of justice.
Matt for his “day job” is a project director for Justice Initiatives in the School of Public Affairs. In this role Matt directs several translational research and TTA projects focused on addressing racial disparities in treatment courts across the country. This work includes using AU’s Racial and Ethnic Disparities Assessment tool to help courts to understand how their current policies and practices may be unintentionally contributing to racially biased outcomes, and then developing unique and tailored training and technical assistance programs for courts, jurisdictions and states to reduce racism, disparities and bias in their programs.
Matt previously worked as the Director of Training Programs at JustLeadershipUSA, one of the few criminal legal system reform organizations led exclusively by formerly incarcerated individuals, where he provided training and program leadership to over three hundred formerly incarcerated and legal system impacted leaders.
Recent publications: Color in the Court: Using the Racial and Ethnic Disparities (RED) Program Assessment Tool to Promote Equitable and Inclusive Treatment Court Practice (2023)
- For the Media
- To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.
Teaching
Spring 2024
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JLC-104 Intro to Systems of Justice
Fall 2024
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JLC-103 Critical Issues in Justice