Our team is built on individuals with various backgrounds in the criminal justice field.

Jessica Ireland is a Senior Manager with the Center for Effective Public Policy (CEPP). She provides training, technical assistance, facilitation, and implementation support to jurisdictions seeking to strengthen pretrial decision-making and improve system outcomes. Ms. Ireland plays a key role in CEPP’s Advancing Pretrial Policy and Research (APPR) initiative, supporting jurisdictions across the country through training, strategic planning, and implementation assistance. She also leads CEPP’s Public Safety Assessment (PSA) implementation services, partnering with courts, pretrial agencies, and system stakeholders to support effective adoption, quality assurance, and long-term sustainability of the PSA. Through her work, Jessica helps jurisdictions advance fair, research-informed pretrial practices that promote public safety and effective decision-making. 

Ms. Ireland is a national expert on pretrial services programs, collaboration in the criminal legal system, and implementation of sustainable and effective pretrial system improvements. She was the Pretrial Services Program Manager for Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, where she spearheaded efforts to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of pretrial screening, release, and supervision practices. Highlights included working collaboratively with justice system stakeholders to move from a resource to a risk-based system of release, successful implementation and validation of the PSA, and the development of a graduated response to violations framework. Under her leadership, Mecklenburg County Pretrial Services became the first stand-alone jurisdiction to receive national accreditation from the National Association of Pretrial Services Agencies. She holds a BA in sociology, a BS in criminal justice, and an MPA from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.