Sarah V. Hart, Director National Institute of Justice
Sarah Hart was nominated by President Bush to be the Director of the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and confirmed by the United States Senate by a vote of 98-0. On August 7, 2001 , Ms. Hart was sworn in as Director of NIJ.
From 1995 to August 2001, Ms. Hart served as Chief Counsel for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. Prior to assuming that position, she served for sixteen years as a prosecutor in the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office. In that capacity, she served as lead counsel for nine years in federal litigation involving the Philadelphia prison system.
While serving in the Pennsylvania corrections system, Ms. Hart provided substantial assistance to the Judiciary Committees of the United States Congress in drafting the federal Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) and the November 1997 amendments to the PLRA. As part of that process, she testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee concerning the implementation of the PLRA. Ms. Hart has also provided substantial assistance in the development of legislation in Pennsylvania relating to prison litigation reform, community empowerment, and crime victims.
Ms. Hart previously served as Vice Chair of the Legal Affairs Committee of the American Correctional Association, Chairman of the Sentencing and Corrections Subcommittee of the Federalist Society, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Crime Victims Law Institute. She has provided extensive training on the PLRA and corrections legal issues to the National Institute of Corrections (Department of Justice), the National Association of Attorneys General, the American Correctional Association, and the Association of State Corrections Administrators. She has also published articles concerning federalism, corrections, and criminal law. She currently serves on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's Appellate Procedural Rules Committee.
Ms. Hart is a graduate of Rutgers School of Law where she served as an associate editor of the Law Review. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Delaware .