Ernesto Lopez joined the Council after serving as a research consultant, analyzing crime trends for CCJ’s National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice. During his time at the Council, Lopez has authored more than a dozen reports on crime trends in large U.S. cities and served as research staff for the Violent Crime Working Group, Task Force on Long Sentences, Crime Trends Working Group, and Pushing Toward Parity project.
Earlier in his career, Lopez worked as an office manager for the Department of Veterans Affairs and was a research and teaching assistant at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He is also a U.S. Army veteran who deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Lopez regularly presents to policy groups, including the White House Domestic Policy Council, the National Governors Association, the National Criminal Justice Association, and The Black Mayors’ Coalition on Crime. He has been quoted in multiple major news outlets, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, CNN, and NPR, and by numerous local and specialty news organizations.
Lopez is currently a doctoral candidate in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He holds a Master of Public Administration with a concentration in urban management and a BA in political science and public administration from California State University, Fullerton.
