Chapin Hall

Dr. DeAnna Smith is a Researcher at Chapin Hall. Currently, Smith works on the Voices that Matter Study under the Cook County Reimagining Youth Detention (RYD) Initiative. In this role, she conducts focus groups and interviews with justice-impacted youth and families to gather insights that inform the design and implementation of the RYD Initiative. Smith brings to Chapin Hall several years of experience designing and leading qualitative research studies with system-impacted families.

In 2024, Smith joined Chapin Hall as an Equity First Summer Associate. Prior to joining Chapin Hall, her research focused on the prisoner reentry experiences of formerly incarcerated Black women and their families. Smith has also conducted research on the consequences of child protective services (CPS) investigations for middle-class Black families who are often overlooked in child welfare research. Before joining Chapin Hall, Smith was a researcher with the Carceral State Project at the University of Michigan, where she helped design and execute an interview study with individuals sentenced to juvenile life without parole in Michigan. Smith has expertise in community-engaged research, qualitative methods, survey design, the child welfare system, the criminal legal system, and racial and economic inequality.

Smith holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Northwestern University and a PhD in Sociology from the University of Michigan.