Marcy Mistrett has nearly three decades of experience working in child and adolescent development in the youth justice and education fields in a broad capacity in both subject matter and service. Her experience spans policy, direct service and training/technical assistance provision. She is committed to upholding an equity lens and to ensuring that children are treated as children is the US criminal legal system.
Between 2014-2020, Marcy was CEO at the Campaign for Youth Justice. Her work at CFYJ was recognized by The MacArthur Foundation’s Models for Change, the Open Society Institute’s Justice Roundtable, and The Coalition for Juvenile Justice. Marcy also served as a senior fellow for the Sentencing Project and also worked with the Restorative Justice Project where she supported a national pilot implementing ten successful restorative justice diversion programs across the country. While there, she helped distill lessons learned, supported cohort learning and launched communities of practice to advance restorative justice agendas.
Trained in social work, Marcy began her career working in legal aid with court-involved youth, with a focus on youth tried as adults. Throughout Marcy’s extensive career, she has served in leadership positions in research, TTA, practice and policy around a host of issues including community-based responses to violence prevention and national college success and youth leadership through the D.C. Posse Foundation.
Marcy served under appointment to the D.C. Juvenile Justice Advisory Group and she has been acknowledged across the youth justice field through numerous other appointments, fellowships and awards. Most recently, Marcy was honored with the James Gould Leadership & Vision Award from the National Partnership on Juvenile Services (2023).