Christopher Stone

Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Professor of the Practice of Criminal Justice
Director
Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations
Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management
Office Address
Belfer-114
Mailing Address
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Mailbox 143
79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Contact
Phone: 617-495-4844
Fax: 617-495-0996
Email: chris_stone@harvard.edu
Assistant
Klara Kabadian (617-496-0831)
Christopher Stone

Profile

Christopher Stone is Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Professor of the Practice of Criminal Justice. He serves as faculty chair of the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management and as the faculty director of the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations. His work focuses on two distinct subjects: the improvement of criminal justice systems in the United States and worldwide, and the leadership and governance of nonprofit organizations. He also co-teaches the final-year seminar for students in the joint degree program between Harvard Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School.

Stone's current research focuses on countries engaged in sector-wide reform of their criminal justice systems. In one project, he is working with national and state officials in four developing countries (Jamaica, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, and Sierra Leone) to strengthen their design and use of indicators to guide justice-sector reform. In another project, he is examining the application in practice of the 2005 revision of the code of criminal procedure in Turkey. In a third project, he is identifying ways in which the work of the International Criminal Court can contribute to improvements in the domestic systems of justice of the countries in which it is conducting trials, investigations, or preliminary examinations. A fourth project aims to strengthen empirical research of China's criminal justice system, with particular attention to current efforts by the government to reform the application of the death penalty.

Stone's work on nonprofit organizations includes a continuing project to benchmark effective practices across the sector worldwide. He is also engaged in several efforts to strengthen the management, leadership, and governance of nonprofit organizations in China.

From 1994 to 2004, Stone served as director of the Vera Institute of Justice, having joined the Institute in 1986 as head of its London office. In 2006, he was awarded an honorary OBE for his contributions to criminal justice reform in the United Kingdom. He was the founding director of the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, a nonprofit, community-based public defender in New York City, and one of three founding directors of the New York State Capital Defender Office, created to provide legal representation to all persons charged with capital crimes when, in the 1990s, New York State revived its use of the death penalty. He was the founding chair of Altus, an alliance of nongovernmental organizations and academic centers in Russia, India, Nigeria, Chile, Brazil, and the United States that are jointly pursuing justice sector reform. In all, he has guided the start-up of eight nonprofit organizations pursuing justice from Johannesburg to Los Angeles and New York. Stone received his AB from Harvard, an MPhil. in criminology from the University of Cambridge, and his JD from the Yale Law School.

Courses

Fall

  • SUP-701 Workshop on Crime and Criminal Justice Reform in Global Context

Not Offered

  • DPI-106M Acting in Time
  • MLD-801 Strategic Management of Nonprofit and Nongovernmental Organizations

Media Expertise

Christopher Stone welcomes media inquiries on the following subjects:

Additional experts may be found by clicking on each subject listed. You may contact faculty directly or if you need assistance contact the Communications Office at 617-495-1115.

Research

For a complete list of faculty citations from 2001 - present, please visit the Harvard Kennedy School Research Report Online.

Selected Publication Citations:

  • Academic Journal/Scholarly Articles
    • Stone, Christopher. "Innovations in Public Defense as an Investment in Better Sentencing." Federal Sentencing Reporter 24.1 (October 2011): 21-22.
    • Stone, Christopher. "Tracing Police Accountability in Theory and Practice." Theoretical Criminology 11.2 (2007): 245-259.
  • Book Chapters
    • Stone, Christopher. "Crime, Justice Systems, and Development Assistance." The World Bank Legal Review, Volume 2 - Law, Equity and Development. Ed. The World Bank. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers / Brill Academic, 2006.
  • Commentary
    • Pennington, Richard, and Christopher Stone. "Human Rights Commission Needed." Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 13, 2007.
    • Stone, Christopher. "A Tale of Two Cities: Boston, New York, and Crime." Boston Globe, February 12, 2006.
  • HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series
    • Stone, Christopher. "A New Era for Justice Sector Reform in Haiti." HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series RWP10-033, July 2010.
    • Foglesong, Todd, and Christopher Stone. "Measuring the Contribution of Criminal Justice Systems to the Control of Crime and Violence: Lessons from Jamaica and the Dominican Republic." KSG Faculty Research Working Paper Series RWP07-019, April 2007.
    • Stone, Christopher. "Crime, Justice, and Growth in South Africa: Toward a Plausible Contribution from Criminal Justice to Economic Growth." Center for International Development and KSG Faculty Research Working Paper Series (CID Working Paper No. 131 and RWP06-038), September 2006.
  • Research Papers/Reports
    • Foglesong, Todd, and Christopher Stone. "Prison Exit Samples as a Source for Indicators of Pretrial Detention." Indicators in Development: Safety and Justice Series, Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management, Harvard Kennedy School, April 2011.
    • Stone, Christopher. "Problems of Power in the Design of Indicators of Safety and Justice in the Global South." Indicators in Development: Safety and Justice Series, Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management, Harvard Kennedy School, April 2011.
    • Stone, Christopher and Jeremy Travis. "Toward a New Professionalism in Policing." New Perspectives in Policing (Executive Session on Policing and Public Safety), March 2011.
    • Stone, Christopher, Zachary Carter, Thomas Belfiore, Ella M. Bully-Cummings, Rev. Dr. Herbert Daughtry, Michael J. Farrell, George Gascón, Arva Rice, Lew Rice, and Damon T. Hewitt. "Reducing Inherent Danger: Report of the New York State Task Force on Police-on-Police Shootings." New York State Task Force on Police-on-Police Shootings Report, May 27, 2010.
    • Stone, Christopher, Todd Foglesong, and Christine M. Cole. "Policing Los Angeles Under a Consent Decree: The Dynamics of Change at the LAPD." Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management Working Paper Series, Harvard Kennedy School, May 2009.
    • Stone, Christopher, Brian Buchner, and Scott Dash. "Crowd Control That Can Kill: Can American Police Get a Grip on Their New, 'Less-Lethal' Weapons Before they Kill Again?" Rappaport Institute Policy Brief PB-2005-6, October 24, 2005.
    • Stone, Christopher, Joel Miller, Monica Thornton, and Jennifer Trone. "Supporting Security, Justice, and Development: Lessons for a New Era." Vera Institute of Justice, June 2005.
    • Stone, Christopher. "Preparing a Fresh Assault on Ethnic Profiling." Open Society Justice Initiative, June 2005.
    • Stern, Donald K., Raymond Downs, Robert P. Gittens, Janice W. Howe, Steve Ijames, Patrick J. King, and Christopher E. Stone. "Report of the Commission Investigating the Death of Victoria Snelgrove." Boston Police Department Independent Commission, May 25, 2005.