Amanda Ward, assistant research professor in the Center for Criminal Justice in the College of Arts and Sciences at Loyola University Chicago, has been awarded a $175,000 grant from the J.B. and M.K. Family Foundation. This funding will support her research aimed at reducing Illinois’ women’s prison population by developing evidence-based interventions. 

In 2018, the Pritzker Family Foundation's Civil and Human Rights Initiative set an ambitious goal to reduce the number of women incarcerated in Illinois Prisons by 50% by 2025. The Women and Justice Initiative grant will fund Dr. Ward to provide research support for this continuing this important work.  

“Dr. Ward’s research is advancing justice and equity by addressing systemic disparities,” said Peter J. Schraeder, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “Her innovative research, which is funded by an external grant from the Pritzker Family Foundation, is driving important reforms in the Illinois criminal justice system.”

Ward holds a dual appointment at Loyola, working with both the Center for Criminal Justice (CCJ) and the Center for Urban Research and Learning (CURL). She collaborates with criminal justice agencies, community organizations, and those affected by the criminal justice systems to identify and implement evidence-based reforms rooted in social justice. Her work seeks to transform Illinois’ criminal justice system. 

Ward’s research builds on the work of Loyola's Center for Criminal Justice and its collaboration with the Women’s Justice Institute and the Statewide Women’s Justice Task Force. Between 2018 and 2021, these groups analyzed key drivers behind women’s involvement in the criminal justice system and developed the CUT50%+ Matrix — a data-based blueprint designed to reduce Illinois' women’s prison population. 

“This project is an exciting opportunity to use my research skills and knowledge of Illinois' criminal justice system to support the development of informed and effective interventions for women in prison,” said Ward. 

“This grant will allow us to continue providing advocates and policymakers with up-to-date analyses,” Ward explained. “These insights will help better develop, invest in, and promote policies that decrease Illinois’ women’s prison population.” 

Ward’s research will also include the development of an online dashboard. This tool will enable users to generate data on Illinois’ women’s prison population, estimating the impact of various policy shifts and interventions.  

“Putting this puzzle together requires an in-depth understanding of how prison sentences are calculated, where there are opportunities to reduce sentences, and the levers we can use to do so,” she said. “I’m looking forward to seeing how people use it!”  

Additionally, Ward will conduct a survey with women currently incarcerated at Logan Correctional Center, exploring how their experiences of gender violence have shaped the events that led to their incarceration. 

"It's a tough subject, but understanding these experiences is crucial to helping women at risk for arrest and imprisonment," Ward shared.

With this grant, Ward will continue her impactful work, helping to inform policy reforms that advance social justice and equity in Illinois’ criminal justice system. 

Learn more about Amanda Ward, the Center for Criminal Justice, CURL, and the Pritzker Family Foundation.  

About the College of Arts and Sciences

The College of Arts and Sciences is the oldest of Loyola University Chicago’s 15 schools, colleges, and institutes. More than 150 years since its founding, the College is home to 20 academic departments and 37 interdisciplinary programs and centers, more than 450 full-time faculty, and nearly 8,000 students. The 2,000+ classes that we offer each semester span an array of intellectual pursuits, ranging from the natural sciences and computational sciences to the humanities, the social sciences, and the fine and performing arts. Our students and faculty are engaged internationally at our campus in Rome, Italy, as well as at dozens of University-sponsored study abroad and research sites around the world. Home to the departments that anchor the University’s Core Curriculum, the College seeks to prepare all of Loyola’s students to think critically, to engage the world of the 21st century at ever deepening levels, and to become caring and compassionate individuals. Our faculty, staff, and students view service to others not just as one option among many, but as a constitutive dimension of their very being. In the truest sense of the Jesuit ideal, our graduates strive to be “individuals for others.”