Noah Painter-Davis
Deputy Director for Research and Technology at the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing
Phone: (814) 863-8192
Websites:
Biography:
Painter-Davis is the Deputy Director for Research and Technology at the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing. After 11 years as a faculty member at the University of New Mexico, Painter-Davis recently returned to Penn State, where he received his Master’s Degree in Crime, Law, and Justice and a Dual Degree PhD in Sociology and Demography. His research focuses on improving the effectiveness of public safety responses by developing and implementing interagency collaborations between criminal justice agencies, behavioral health providers, and community partners. His recent work includes a National Institute of Health-funded Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network study. The study involved developing interagency workgroups in Texas, New Mexico, and Illinois consisting of members of parole and substance use service providers. Painter-Davis worked with these workgroups to identify facilitators and barriers to treatment along the continuum of care, develop action plans, and implement evidence-based practices that improve treatment.
While in NM, he worked with the District Attorney’s office, behavioral health providers, and community members to evaluate and develop practices to redirect certain youth and young adults from the criminal legal and delinquent systems. He has published extensively on issues related to sentencing and was affiliated with the New Mexico Sentencing Commission as a researcher while at UNM. In 2020, he received the Mentoring and Career Development Award from the William T. Grant Foundation, and in 2019, he received the New Faculty Teacher of the Year Award from the Center for Teaching Excellence at UNM. As Deputy Director for Research, Painter-Davis will primarily be focusing on Pennsylvania Senate Resolution 196, which directed the Commission to conduct a comprehensive study of military Veterans involvement in the criminal justice system in Pennsylvania, the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, and current treatment options and gaps.