Michele Y. Deitch
- Distinguished Senior Lecturer
Michele Deitch is a distinguished senior lecturer at the LBJ School and Texas Law, directing the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab. With over 35 years of experience and numerous teaching awards, she specializes in correctional oversight and juvenile justice. Deitch co-chairs the ABA's Subcommittee on Correctional Oversight and has published extensively on these topics. Her TEDx talk, "Why are we trying kids as adults?" was named a TEDx Editor's Pick in January 2015. Professor Deitch has significantly impacted public policy, including work on Texas's Sandra Bland Act.
Featured Work
Michele Deitch holds a joint appointment as a distinguished senior lecturer at the LBJ School and the Law School, and directs the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab (PJIL) at the LBJ School. She is an attorney with over 35 years of experience working on criminal justice and juvenile justice policy issues with state and local government officials, corrections administrators, judges and advocates. She specializes in independent oversight of correctional institutions, prison and jail conditions, management of youth in custody, and juveniles in the adult criminal justice system. Deitch co-chairs the American Bar Association's Subcommittee on Correctional Oversight, and helped draft the ABA's Standards on the Treatment of Prisoners. Her numerous articles about correctional oversight include a 50-state inventory of prison oversight models and many reports on juvenile justice that have received national attention. Her TEDx talk, "Why are we trying kids as adults?" was named a TEDx Editor's Pick in January 2015.
Deitch brings criminal justice policy issues to a broader audience through her frequent commentary in national and local media, and has significantly impacted public policy through legislative testimony and work with key legislators, including on Texas's Sandra Bland Act. She also chaired the Travis County (Texas) Sheriff’s Advisory Committee on the Women's Jail, which proposed a reimagined, gender-responsive facility for women.
Prior to entering academia, Deitch served as a federal court-appointed monitor of conditions in the Texas prison system, policy director of Texas's sentencing commission, general counsel to the Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee, and consultant to justice system agencies around the country.
She has won numerous teaching awards, including being named to the 2019 Texas 10 list of the most inspiring professors at The University of Texas at Austin. She has been a Soros Senior Justice Fellow, and is the recipient of the 2019 NACOLE Flame Award for significant contributions to correctional oversight.
No publications or activities matching the current search and filters.
year-2021
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Other Publication
Dead Man Waiting: A Brief Profile of deaths in Texas prisons among people approved for parole release
Michele Y. Deitch, Destiny Moreno, Alycia Welch. “Dead Man Waiting: A Brief Profile of deaths in Texas prisons among people approved for parole release.” (Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, June 2021). View online. -
Other Publication
The Pandemic Gender Gap Behind Bars: Meeting the Needs of Women in Custody During COVID-19 and Planning for the Future
Michele Y. Deitch, Alycia Welch. “The Pandemic Gender Gap Behind Bars: Meeting the Needs of Women in Custody During COVID-19 and Planning for the Future.” (Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, May 2021). View online. -
Other Publication
Hidden Figures: Rating the COVID Data Transparency of Prisons, Jails, and Juvenile Agencies
Michele Y. Deitch, William Bucknall. “Hidden Figures: Rating the COVID Data Transparency of Prisons, Jails, and Juvenile Agencies.” (Lyndon B, Johnson School of Public Affairs, March 2021). View online. -
Article
Raising Arizona's Commitment to Health and Safety: The Need for Independent Oversight of Arizona's Prison System
Michele Deitch, Raising Arizona's Commitment to Health and Safety: The Need for Independent Oversight of Arizona's Prison System, 52 Arizona State Law Joournal 811 (Fall 2020). View Online
year-2020
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Book Chapter
Correcting Corrections: Lessons for Prisons and Jails in a Post-COVID World
Michele Deitch, "Correcting Corrections: Lessons for Prisons and Jails in a Post-COVID World," in Resiliency in the Age of COVID-19: A Policy Toolkit (Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs , December 8, 2020).
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Other Publication
Locked Out, Looking In: How Correctional Oversight Agencies are Adapting During the COVID Crisis
Michele Deitch, William Bucknall, Locked Out, Looking In: How Correctional Oversight Agencies are Adapting During the COVID Crisis, (Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, November 20, 2020). View Online
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Other Publication
COVID and Corrections: A Profile of COVID Deaths in Custody in Texas
Michele Deitch, Alycia Welch, William Bucknall, and Destiny Moreno, COVID and Corrections: A Profile of COVID Deaths in Custody in Texas, (Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, November 10, 2020). View Online
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Article
But Who Oversees the Overseers?: The Status of Prison and Jail Oversight in the United States
Michele Y. Deitch. “But Who Oversees the Overseers?: The Status of Prison and Jail Oversight in the United States.” In 47 American Journal of Criminal Law, Page 207 (Summer 2020).
year-2018
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Book Chapter
Designing And Planning A New Women’s Jail Facility For Travis County: A Roadmap For Reform
Michele Y. Deitch. “Designing And Planning A New Women’s Jail Facility For Travis County: A Roadmap For Reform” View online.
year-2016
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Article
What’s Going On in Our Prisons?
Michele Y. Deitch, [Op-Ed] What’s Going On in Our Prisons?, New York Times, January 4, 2016, at A19 (with Michael B. Mushlin).
year-2014
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Book Chapter
Historical Perspective
Michele Y. Deitch, Historical Perspective, in Desktop Guide to Quality Practice in Working with Youth in Confinement (2014), (with Rebekah Lamm, Rebecca Lange, Dianna Muldrow, Gabrielle Smith, & Meghan Young).
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Book Chapter
Behavior Management
Michele Y. Deitch, Behavior Management, in Desktop Guide to Quality Practice in Working with Youth in Confinement (2014)
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Book Chapter
Waivers and Transfers of Juveniles to Adult Courts
Michele Y. Deitch, Waivers and Transfers of Juveniles to Adult Courts, in Juvenile Justice Sourcebook, 11 (Wesley T. Church, II, David W. Spring & Albert R. Roberts, editors, Oxford University Press, 2014) (with Neelum Arya).
year-2013
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Other Publication
Understanding and Addressing Youth Violence in the Texas Juvenile Justice Department: Report to the Office of the Independent Ombudsman
Michele Y. Deitch, Understanding and Addressing Youth Violence in the Texas Juvenile Justice Department: Report to the Office of the Independent Ombudsman (Special Project Report, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, May 2013) (with Amy Madore, Kate Vickery & Alycia Welch).
year-2012
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Article
Prison Litigation Reform Act: The Need for Independent Prison Oversight in a Post-PLRA World
Michele Y. Deitch, Prison Litigation Reform Act: The Need for Independent Prison Oversight in a Post-PLRA World, 24 Federal Sentencing Reporter 236 (2012). -
Article
Seventeen, Going on Eighteen: An Operational and Fiscal Analysis of a Proposal to Raise the Age of Juvenile Jurisdiction in Texas
Michele Y. Deitch, Seventeen, Going on Eighteen: An Operational and Fiscal Analysis of a Proposal to Raise the Age of Juvenile Jurisdiction in Texas, 40 American Journal of Criminal Law 1 (2012) (with Rebecca Breeden & Ross Weingarten).
year-2010
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Article
Opening Up a Closed World: What Constitutes Effective Prison Oversight?
Michele Y. Deitch, Opening Up a Closed World: What Constitutes Effective Prison Oversight? 30 Pace Law Review 1383 (2010) (with Michael B. Mushlin). View Article -
Article
Special Populations and the Importance of Prision Oversight
Michele Y. Deitch, Special Populations and the Importance of Prision Oversight, 37 American Journal of Criminal Law 291 (2010). View Article -
Article
Annotated Bibliography on Independent Prision Oversight
Michele Y. Deitch, Annotated Bibliography on Independent Prision Oversight, 30 Pace Law Review 1687 (2010). View Article -
Article
Independent Correctional Oversight Mechanisms Across the United States: A 50-State Inventory
Michele Y. Deitch, Independent Correctional Oversight Mechanisms Across the United States: A 50-State Inventory, 30 Pace Law Review 1754 (2010). View Article