I was just browsing the news this morning when I came across the story of how Bernard Madoff, a prominent Wall Street trader, allegedly admitted to defrauding investors in his hedge fund of $50 billion. It is an unbelievable amount of money, and it’s hard to believe that anyone would go through the effort and risk to steal that much money – I can’t even fathom what you would do with $50 billion in illegally acquired money. The most outrageous part of the story might be that Madoff has been released on $10 million bail. That’s peanuts for him. It’s .02% of what he allegedly stole. After reading this story I started browsing non-profits for today’s post, and I came across the Vera Institute of Justice. It’s a New York City based organization with locations in Washington, DC and New Orleans, and it was founded when “philanthropist Louis Schweitzer and magazine editor Herb Sturz recognized the injustice of a bail system in New York City that granted liberty based on income.” Today’s story about Madoff is a perfect example of this injustice.

You Can’t Buy Justice

Vera Institute of Justice began by attacking the bail system, but today their “staff are leading more than two dozen separate projects that each aim to reveal more about the meaning of justice.” They start new projects by examining how the justice system really works, and then use experimentation and rational thought processes to develop alternatives to address the problem that they are facing. The end goal is always “justice systems that are fairer, more humane, and more effective for everyone.” Luckily for you, Vera Institute of Justice needs help making this goal happen, so they’re hiring. You can find all of their job opportunities on their Employment page. We’ve identified a few that seem best interested for new college graduates – Research Associate, Intake Interviewer, Therapist, Research Analyst, and Project Analyst. You can find the full job descriptions on the Employment page along with information on how to apply (it varies for each position). All of the jobs that I just mentioned are located in New York City.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• Vera.org
• Jobs at Vera Institute of Justice
• About Vera Institute of Justice
• Vera Institute of Justice’s Events

Had you heard about the Bernard Madoff story before today?

We've identified Vera Institute of Justice as having career opportunities in the following categories:

• all employers
• analyst
• law
• New York
• non-profit
• project management
• research

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