Douglas Smith, M.S.S.W.

Doug Smith is a Criminal Justice Policy Analyst with TCJC, where he develops policies to reduce Texas’ over-reliance on incarceration and improve conditions of confinement and reentry for people leaving prison. Doug graduated magna cum laude from St. Edward’s University in 1994 and earned his M.S.S.W. from the University of Texas at Austin in 2000. He previously served as a Policy Analyst in the Texas House of Representatives’ Committee on Human Services, as well as a Legislative Director for a member of the House. He was also an Adjunct Instructor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work, teaching courses on Public Policy Analysis. Doug’s passion for criminal justice reform stems from his own experience in the criminal justice system, where he served six years in prison for crimes committed as a direct outcome of addiction. In addition to his state-level advocacy work with TCJC, Doug serves on the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Reentry Taskforce, the Austin/Travis County Reentry Roundtable, and the Reentry Advocacy Project. He also sits on the Board of Directors for the Austin Sobriety Center and the Texas Research Society on Alcoholism and Addiction.