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Social Scientist

 Social Scientist Position            

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Lawyers’ Committee), one of nation’s premier legal civil rights organizations, is seeking a bright, creative, highly organized Social Scientist to support the work of our organization, particularly the Criminal Justice, Stop Hate, and Voting Rights Projects.    The Lawyers’ Committee works to mobilize the private bar in addressing racial discrimination through a number of legal strategies, including litigation, advocacy, and public education.
The social scientist will conduct qualitative and quantitative analyses as needed by staff in support of the organization’s work.  These analyses will be used in a variety of contexts, including investigations, cases, reports, and public education materials.
 
Roles and Responsibilities  
The social scientist will support the internal quantitative and qualitative data analysis needs of the organization.  Below is the description of the types of analyses required by the Voting Rights Project, Stop Hate Project, and Criminal Justice Project, the three primary projects with which the social scientist will be working.
For the Voting Rights Project, the Social Science Analyst will work in three principal areas: election analysis, political districting, voter registration, and voter location analyses.   The Voting Rights Project requires the capability to conduct statistical analyses of group voting behavior using professionally-accepted methodologies, including King’s EI (Ecological Inference).  The analyst will frequently work in consultation with and support expert witnesses retained by the Lawyers’ Committee, and may be asked to evaluate the methodology and testimony of opposing expert witnesses.   The analyst will also provide support for electoral districting and redistricting, at the local level as well at the state legislative and Congressional levels.  This involves analyzing and creating alternative districting/redistricting proposals using geographic information system (“GIS”) software. The Social Scientist would routinely assist in creating accurate political geodatabases for the jurisdictions in which the Project is active, as well as replicating, analyzing and creating alternative redistricting plans.  The Social Scientist will also perform analyses of whether certain practices, such as the location of voting precincts early voting sites, have a discriminatory effect on minority voters.
For the Stop Hate project, the activities of the Social Scientist will include local mapping and analyses of resources available to victims of hate incidents, mapping and evaluation of data reflecting reporting of hate incidents from various governmental and nongovernmental sources, and evaluation of data involving other civil rights issues to determine whether is a correlation between concentrations of hate incidents and other civil rights issues.  The Social Scientist will evaluate data collected from various sources to help identify trends, and may help develop surveys to collect information from communities served.  The Social Scientist will also contribute to reports to inform the public debate on legal and policy strategies to address hate crimes and hate incidents.
For the Criminal Justice Project, the activities of the Social Scientist will predominantly focus on supporting the Project’s efforts over the next three to eradicate incarceration resulting from indigency in Arkansas and Oklahoma.  The work will include compiling and analyzing data regarding indigent incarceration in those states, working with staff in developing an approach that prioritizes efforts based on the data analysis, and reporting on trends identified through the data.
 
Experience and Qualifications
The ideal candidate will have a graduate degree or be a candidate for a graduate degree in a social science field of relevant study though college graduates with appropriate experience will be considered.  Examples of academic fields from which successful candidates would likely be drawn would include political geography, urban planning with a background in political science, or political science with a concentration in redistricting and election analysis.  The candidate should have strong research and writing skills, and the ability to explain research methods and findings to attorneys who lack social science training.  The candidate should be very organized with exceptional attention to detail.  The Analyst should be able to work independently and take initiative while working as part of a team.   There is a preference for candidates with a demonstrated commitment to civil rights issues.
The ideal candidate will have working familiarity with the following software: Maptitude GIS (or alternatively ARC/GIS), SPSS or equivalent, and RDQA or equivalent.  The ideal candidate will have experience drawing GIS maps, geocoding data, and running regression analyses such as Ecological Inference.  Additionally, the ideal candidate will be able to use existing data created by government sources, especially Census data, to identify and analyze issues and trends.
The position is based in the Lawyers’ Committee office in Washington, D.C. The Social Scientist may be asked to travel on occasion.
 
To Apply: Please submit a cover letter, resume, and desired salary range to Podio. No calls will be accepted.  The position will remain until October 11, 2017 and applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Salary and benefits are competitive for a nonprofit legal organization.
The Lawyers’ Committee is an equal opportunity employer with a standing policy of nondiscrimination. Diversity is an essential component of the Lawyers’ Committee, and we encourage women and minorities to apply. All qualified persons are accorded an equal opportunity for selection without regard to actual or perceived race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, disability, medical condition, marital status, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, family responsibility, personal appearance, genetic information, matriculation, political affiliation, or any other characteristic protected under law.
Accessibility Assistance: Although calls will not be accepted regarding questions about the position, if you are an individual with a disability and need assistance completing the online application, please call 202-662-8600 and ask for an applicant accommodation or send an email with the subject line “Applicant Accommodation” to kcoates@lawyerscommittee.org