Josh Harsin is the Data & Statistical Evaluation Analyst for the Board of Indigents’ Defense Services.  In 2023, Josh completed an MPH/PhD program in the School of Medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center and the Applied Behavioral Science Department at KU in Lawrence, where he served as the lead analyst for system assessments of two juvenile justice districts in Kansas, JD 29 (Wyandotte County) and JD 11 (Crawford, Labette, and Cherokee counties). The analyses conducted for these reports are being implemented at the state level for a statewide analysis of racial and ethnic disparities in the juvenile justice system. Josh also served as the lead evaluator for two local violence prevention programs: Aim4Peace, a community- and hospital-based violence prevention program in Kansas City, Missouri and REVIVE, a hospital-based violence prevention program in Kansas City, Kansas. These programs employ a holistic approach to violence prevention that focuses on ecological factors increasing the likelihood for violence (e.g., housing instability, food insecurity, poverty) and meeting the needs of participants (e.g., trauma/grief counseling, job assistance, housing assistance, conflict mediation) to reduce the likelihood of future violence. Aside from evaluation work, Josh also engages in in-person programming as part of a youth violence prevention coalition in Kansas City, Kansas called ThrYve. He facilitates youth empowerment programs with students at Carl Bruce Middle School, serves as a tutor for middle and high school ThrYve youth, and serves as a chaperone for youth outings/activities. Josh believes mass incarceration is a failure both morally and empirically and is dedicated in his work to combatting the continued criminalization of poor people and people of color in this country. He also believes meeting the needs of individuals, families, and communities—economic, physiological, etc.—is the most effective means to reduce violence and to ensure our communities are places where individuals and families can flourish.