Off Paper - Episode 6: A Conversation with Chief U.S. Probation Officer Doug Burris




Off Paper show

Summary: This episode of Off Paper is a conversation with Doug Burris about innovation and leadership in the criminal justice system. Mr. Burris has served for 17 years as the Chief U.S. Probation Officer for the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Missouri. Burris’s work on issues of living-wage employment for returning citizens has helped the Eastern District of Missouri—which includes the city of St. Louis and the entire eastern portion of the state—to achieve remarkable outcomes for individuals on supervised release. Burris is the first federal Chief Probation Officer to have hired a returning citizen to work in the probation office as a community resources specialist. He is also the first and only federal chief to be a member of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Executive Session on Community Corrections. Burris’s extraordinary leadership has been recognized by the White House, the Department of Justice, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, and many other federal, state, and local governmental and nongovernmental organizations.