In my programs of research, I take a multidisciplinary approach. Particularly, I draw from the fields of criminal justice, law and society, psychology, and public policy. I use a policy lens to examine one central issue: legal decision-making. Specifically, how do citizens and criminal justice actors navigate the legal system?

My research focuses on two interrelated issues, often pertaining to the implementation and evaluation of programs and policies: (1) Court and Adjudication Processes and Practices, and (2) Individual Differences in the Criminal Justice System. These areas of study address citizens’ access to justice, criminal justice actors’ and defendants’ decision-making, policy reforms, cultural sociology, and inequalities in the criminal justice system.

My published work appears in peer-reviewed journals, law reviews, white papers, magazines, and book chapters. My research has been cited in amicus briefs, class action lawsuits, court opinions/dissenting opinions, and pretrial justice task forces and needs assessment reports (detailed below). I have also collaborated on six grant-funded projects, with a central role on three. Almost all of the projects I have worked on have been funded by federal or state grants.

If you’re interested, you can check out summaries of my publications here. If you can’t access a full copy of a publication online because of paywalls, email me at reveka.shteynberg@csusb.edu and I will send you a pre-print copy! 

COURT AND LEGAL REFORMS: Counsel at First Appearance (CAFA) | Bail Reform | Pretrial Services and Diversion Practices | Pretrial Detention | Rural Justice | Program Implementation and Evaluation | Policy Analysis

• Worden, Alissa Pollitz., Andrew L.B. Davies, Reveka V. Shteynberg, & Kirstin A. Morgan. (2020). Early Intervention by Counsel: A Multi-Site Evaluation of the Presence of Counsel at Defendants’ First Appearances in Court. National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Final Report).
• Worden, Alissa Pollitz, Reveka V. Shteynberg, Kirstin A. Morgan, Andrew L.B. Davies. (2020). The impact of counsel at first appearance on pretrial release in felony arraignments: The case of rural jurisdictions. Criminal Justice and Policy Review.
• Shteynberg, Reveka V., & Worden, Alissa Pollitz. (2019). Bail and Pretrial Detention Reform in the Lower Courts. The lower criminal courts, 119-131.
• Worden, Alissa Pollitz, Kirstin A. Morgan, Reveka V. Shteynberg, & Andrew L.B. Davies. (2018). What difference does a lawyer make? Impacts of early counsel on misdemeanor bail decisions and outcomes in rural and small town courts.  Criminal Justice Policy Review. Advance Online Publication. doi: 10.1177/0887403417726133.
  • Davies, Andrew L.B., Reveka V. Shteynberg, Kirstin A. Morgan, Alissa Pollitz Worden. (August 28, 2018). Guaranteeing representation at first Court appearances may be better for defendants, and cheaper for local governments. London School of Economics United States Centre’s American Politics and Policy (LSE USAPP) Blog.  (Note: This article is based on the Worden et al. (2018) paper. My co-authors and I were asked by the LSE USAPP to turn our CJPR manuscript into a featured article for their lay readers.)
  • This research has been cited in the following select reports and policy briefs that may be of interest:
    • The Kansas State Court’s Pretrial Justice Task Force Report (August 2020 Report).
    • The Dubois County Criminal Justice System Assessment report (February 2020 Report for Dubois County, IN).
    • The Economics of Bail and Pretrial Detention (December 2018 Report by The Hamilton Project and the Brookings Institute)
    • Implementing the Counsel at Arraignment Obligations in the Hurrell-Harring v. The State of New York Settlment: 2019 Update (2020 Report by the New York State Office of Indigent Legal Services)
    • Access to Counsel at First Appearance: A Key Component of Pretrial Justice (February 2020 Policy Brief prepared by the National Legal Aid & Defender Association)
• Worden, Alissa Pollitz., Andrew L.B. Davies, Reveka V. Shteynberg, & Kirstin A. Morgan. (2017). Court reform: Why simple solutions might not fail? – A case study of implementation of counsel at first appearance. Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, 14(2).
• Shteynberg, Reveka V. (2018). The Eighth Amendment: Excessive Bails, Excessive Fines, and Cruel and Unusual Punishments. In Gale College Researcher Series Online. Gale Cengage Learning; Baltimore, MD: Words & Numbers, Inc. (Online copy unavailable; electronic textbook)
• Worden, Alissa Pollitz, Reveka V. Shteynberg, Kirstin A. Morgan, & Andrew L.B. Davies (2017). Beyond the city limits: Evaluating court reforms in rural and small-town courts. Translational Criminology, 13.

Access to Quality Legal Representation | Indigent Defense Research | Plea Bargaining and Adjudication | Pretrial Processes

• Henderson, Kelsey S. & Reveka V. Shteynberg. (2020). Plea decision-making: The impact of attorney credibility, expertise, and trustworthiness. Psychology, Crime & Law.
• Morgan, Kirstin A., Reveka V. Shteynberg, Rebecca Ackerman, Cynthia G. Lee. (2018). Incorporating client perspectives into indigent defense research: A guide for practitioners. Washington, DC: National Legal Aid & Defenders Association (NLADA), 1-64.
  • Cited in the following report that may be of interest:
    • BJA’s Sixth Amendment Initiative: Strengthening the Constitutional Protections of the Accused: A report on ten sites participating in strategic planning. (January 2021 Report by the Center for Court Innovation)
• In-Progress Papers (exact titles TBD):
  • Shteynberg, Reveka V. & Alissa Pollitz Worden. Hidden decision processes: Modeling plea bargains in rural New York.
  • Shteynberg, Reveka V. & Alexis Norris. OOPs, I did it again! An examination of Orders of Protection (OOPs).
  • Clark, Alissa (PhD Student) & Reveka V. Shteynberg. Covid and the Bar: The impact of the pandemic on the administration of the Bar Exam across all 50 states in the U.S.

JUVENILE JUSTICE ISSUES: Prosecution and Adjudication of Juveniles | True and False Confessions and Plea Decisions | Policing Juveniles

• Redlich, Allison D., Reveka V. Shteynberg, Laura H. Nirider. (2019). Pragmatic implication in the interrogation room: a comparison of juveniles and adults. Journal of Experimental Criminology. 
• Redlich, Allison D. & Reveka V. Shteynberg. (2016). To plead or not to plead: A comparison of juvenile and adult true and false plea decisions. Law and Human Behavior, 40(6).
  • This article has been cited in the following U.S. Supreme Court and State Supreme Court case Amicus Briefs, dissenting court opinion, class action complaint, strategic operational plan, and legal training materials that may be of interest:
    • Larry Newton Jr. v State of Indiana, Court of Appeals of Indiana, 5^th District,
      • Amicus Brief submitted in 2018 to the U.S. Supreme Court (USSC) on the issue of granting certiorari because the threat of the death penalty, a punishment the USSC has since recognized as unconstitutional, rendered the plea negotiations coercive.
    • People v. Tiger, State of New York Court of Appeals (2018).
      • The majority holds that the defendant’s actual innocence claim is not a ground for relief, however the dissenting opinion cited Redlich and Shteynberg (2016) as research supporting why it should be.
    • People of the State of Michigan v. Christopher Ross, Jr., Michigan Supreme Court
      • Amicus Brief submitted in August 2020 on appeal from the State of Michigan Court of Appeals, to address the question of whether juveniles who claim a deprivation of their due process right to (effective) counsel must satisfy the two-part test set forth in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687 (1984).
    • State of New Mexico v. Christopher Rodriguez, Supreme Court of New Mexico, No. S-1-SC-38130. 
      • Amicus Brief submitted August 2020: on the issue that the Court of Appeals should reverse its decision precluding the defendant from appealing defects in his amenability proceedings, which are evidentiary hearings at which a child’s likelihood of rehabilitation or treatment is discussed to decide whether they should be tried as an adult.
    • State of Tennessee v. Tyshon Booker, Supreme Court of Tennessee at Knoxville
      • Amicus Brief submitted November 2020 on the issue that juvenile defendants should be provided with a meaningful opportunity to obtain early release from lengthy incarceration, which was a minimum 51-year term of prison confinement mandatorily imposed on Booker, in consideration of the juvenile’s youth, immaturity, or other mitigating circumstances at the time of the offense and based on demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation that has occurred since then. Oral arguments were livestreamed on Feb 2021 and can be accessed here.
    • Howard et al. v Coonrod et al., United States District Court Middle District of Florida Jacksonville Division
      • Class action complaint where “Plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief: (1) finding that Florida’s sentencing and parole review statutes, and Defendants’ procedures, policies, customs, and practices are unconstitutional as drafted and as applied to juveniles sentenced to life with the possibility of parole; and (2) requiring Flroida to provide Plaintiffs and Class Members a judicial resentencing in accordance with the current resentencing framework set forth in the 2014 Juvenile Setencing Statute, or requiring Defendants to afford Plaintiffs, and those similarly situated, a meaningful opportunity to obtain release based on non-arbitrary criteria and with essential procedural protections that measure their degree of maturity and rehabilitation in accordance with U.S. Supreme Court mandates” (pp 8-9).
    • Juvenile Justice Law Strategic and Operational Plan (JJLSOP) 2018-2020, Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC). The JJLSOP (2018), prepared by the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Social Affairs Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation, is intended to provide a practical plan for the important process of implementation and ongoing operations to improve the lives of children in conflict with the law in the RGC. Redlich and Shteynberg (2016) was referenced in discussions regarding youths’ participation in the criminal justice system, specifically related to police interviews and false guilty pleas.
    • 21st Annual Juvenile Defender Leadership Summit: 2017 Resource Guide (2017 Report prepared by the National Juvenile Defender Center)
    • Training materials for the Washington State Office of Public Defense Juvenile Defense Training Academy on the topic of interviewing clients in September 2018.
    • The Disappearing Trial: Towards a rights-based approach to trial waiver systems (2020 Report prepared by Fair Trials, an international human rights organization, focused on improving the right to a fair trial in accordance with internaitonal standards.
    • Undervalued: An Assessment of Access to and Quality of Junveile Defense Counsel in New Hampshire (August 2020 Report prepared by the National Juvenile Defender Center)
    • Advancing Youth Justice: An Assessment of Access to and Quality of Juvenile Defense Counsel in Oregon (February 2021 Report prepared by the National Juvenile Defender Center, and presented to the State of Oregon Public Defense Services Commission)
• Shteynberg, Reveka V. and Allison D. Redlich. (2015). Policing juvenile delinquency.  In M.D. Krohn & J. Lane (Eds.), Wiley Handbook of Juvenile Delinquency and Juvenile Justice; Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell Publishers.
• In-Progress Papers (exact titles TBD):
  • Henderson, Kelsey S. & Reveka V. Shteynberg. “Lower class lawyers”: A test of people’s perceptions of court-appointed versus privately-retained defense attorneys.
  • Shteynberg, Reveka V. & Allison D. Redlich. A qualitative examination of the decision to plead guilty: The role of gender and race in juvenile and young adult plea decision-making.

For a copy of my CV (resume), click here.

If you do the Twitter thing, here’s mine: @CJSresearcher

If you would like to apply to be my Undergraduate or Graduate Research Assistant, please complete an application and email it to Reveka.Shteynberg@csusb.edu:  Click here for Professor Shteynberg’s Research Assistant Application Form

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