Crystal Carpenter

Crystal Carpenter

Campaign for The Fair Sentencing of Youth

Panelist, Reentry In Action: Legislation, Representation and Community Collaboration

Crystal Carpenter is a seasoned executive and visionary strategist with more than two decades of cross-sector experience advancing systemic reform and strengthening impact across the criminal justice, behavioral health, and education fields. As Chief Operating Officer (COO) at the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth (CFSY), she drives operational excellence, leads cross-functional teams, and aligns strategy, resources, and partnerships to advance lasting system-level change.

In her current role, Ms. Carpenter works alongside directly impacted people—including survivors of youth violence, those who are currently or formerly incarcerated, and their families—to create spaces where communities can share knowledge, lived experiences, and solutions with one another. She cultivates meaningful partnerships with corporations, local nonprofits, and community businesses to ensure their work advances racial and economic justice while supporting healing and community well-being. Grounded in her close connection to these issues, she brings a powerful perspective to educating and training diverse stakeholders about the realities faced by incarcerated individuals and their families—both during incarceration and as they navigate healing, restoration, and reentry into society.

In addition to her passion for social justice issues, Ms. Carpenter possesses wide-ranging data-backed experience focused on data analytics, project management, business intelligence, survey design, and programming. She has worked to direct the implementation and management of contract and grant administrative policies and procedures to ensure that projects are in compliance with stakeholder requirements and exceed performance outcomes. She has also worked to develop and implement data collection systems and strategies to optimize statistical efficiency, data quality as well as to maintain or achieve accreditation for forty-two programs across six service lines (Behavioral Health, Community Corrections, Veterans Services, Workforce Development, Housing and Homeless Services, Substance Abuse Services, and Services for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities).

A lifelong learner and systems thinker, Crystal is passionate about using data to tell powerful stories, shift paradigms, and build a more just and thriving future.