Department of Public Safety Secretary Erik Hooks has named David E. Jones as the interim director of the Governor’s Crime Commission.
“David Jones is one of the most knowledgeable individuals when it comes to handling federal grants for North Carolina’s criminal justice system,” said Hooks. “He has provided more than 30 years of outstanding service to the citizens of North Carolina, and I am grateful that he is willing to serve on an interim basis.”
Jones is a former executive director of the Commission, named in 1999. He served in that capacity until 2009 when he became the deputy secretary for the Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Jones started with GCC in 1975 and worked in the area of program evaluation and later moved into general research and analysis of crime and the criminal justice system.
Jones has conducted research and drafted policy recommendations in a variety of criminal justice areas including alcohol and drug abuse, sentencing and alternatives to incarceration, jail and prison overcrowding, juvenile and adult repeat offenders, and violent crime, particularly school violence. He has also worked extensively in the development of integrated criminal justice information systems.
Jones graduated from North Carolina State University with a B.A. in Political Science. He received his M.A. in Public Affairs from North Carolina State, with primary emphasis in U.S. constitutional law.