Racial Justice Storyteller

Job Description

Are you able to translate data into rich stories about racial justice issues? Can you illuminate the historical throughline that race has paved through our country’s complicated relationship with the death penalty? The Death Penalty Information Center is seeking a Racial Justice Storyteller to be the project lead in creating engaging content about the racial history of the death penalty.

DPI seeks interested candidates for a Racial Justice Storyteller position. The Racial Justice Storyteller will work with a team of DPI staff to create reports and visualizations to help us tell the story of the racial history of the death penalty, exploring modern capital punishment’s connection to segregation, lynching, mass incarceration, and racial discrimination throughout U.S. history. 

Key Responsibilities

• Under the supervision of senior DPI staff, serving as project lead for the creation of a series of DPI reports on the racial history of the death penalty
• Working with staff and outside partners to research data about the death penalty and systemic racial injustices in targeted jurisdictions
• Analyzing new data from targeted jurisdictions along with DPI’s extensive data sets to create written and graphic content about the racial history of the death penalty
• Incorporating race data and racial history into posts and pages on DPI’s website and social media channels
• Presenting information from the reports to staff, organizational partners, and other stakeholders

Qualifications

Required

• This is a mid-level position, so the applicant should have at least 3 years of experience in a related field, including journalism, social science, criminal justice, data science, public policy, or statistics. In addition, the position requires:
• Commitment to racial equity and social justice, and experience communicating about these topics
• Knowledge of criminal justice issues and interest in capital punishment
• Ability to translate quantitative and qualitative data into compelling narrative and visual content
• Ability to manage short and long-term research projects
• Strong writing and editing skills
• Attention to detail in data analysis and written work product
• Ability to work independently, as part of a team, and with community organizations

Skills

Preferred

• Education in a related field, including social science, journalism, criminal justice, data science, public policy, or statistics
• Excellent oral communication skills
• Experience with Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and/or DataWrapper
• Advanced Microsoft Excel Skills (e.g., pivot tables)

Benefits

• 401(k) matching
• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• Paid holidays, vacation, and sick leave