CCJ Directory

Chris Mathias represents District 19 in the Idaho House of Representatives, where he serves on the Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee, among others. In 2022, he was appointed by Idaho’s Republican Governor to serve on the State’s Criminal Justice Commission. He is honored to serve on CCJ’s Women’s Justice Commission; a relevant problem that is particularly acute to him and his state: Idaho incarcerates a higher percentage of its female residents than any other state.

Mathias is a U.S. Coast Guard veteran with law enforcement and search and rescue experience. He earned a top-secret clearance before conducting shipboard communications aboard the nation’s heaviest icebreaker. After his military service, Mathias earned a criminal justice degree from Boise State University, where he was a McNair Scholar and student body president. In college, he interned at the Idaho Supreme Court to help launch Idaho’s first problem-solving courts and later served as a law clerk to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. Mathias holds a JD and PhD in Law and Public Policy. He is the only Black member of Idaho’s legislature and lives in Boise with his wife and children.