Joshua Crawford is the Director of Criminal Justice Initiatives with the Georgia Center for Opportunity where he leads their public safety and re-entry work. A nationally recognized expert on gang violence reduction, he has testified before local and state legislative committees as well as the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and the Presidential Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice. He is frequently consulted by elected officials and law enforcement agencies on matters of public safety and violent crime reduction.

In January of 2020, his work was the impetus for the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Kentucky’s Crime Victim’s Summit and the establishment of the Group Violence Intervention strategy in Louisville, Kentucky.

His work can be found in the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, The Hill, and National Review, along with large city newspapers around the country. He also serves as a policy leader for Public Safety Solutions for America and a board member of Christopher 2X Game Changers, an anti-violence nonprofit and Coleman Prep Academy, an HBCU-inspired private school elementary and middle school.

He has a BS in Crime, Law, and Justice from Penn State University, a JD from Suffolk University Law School, and a MA in Criminal Justice from John Jay College of Criminal Justice.