Carson Whitelemons

Carson Whitelemons serves as director of criminal justice policy at Arnold Ventures. She has been with Arnold Ventures since 2019 and helps identify and manage philanthropic opportunities and strategies for the Criminal Justice team. Currently, she oversees the foundation's post conviction policy work, which includes efforts to reduce long sentences and increase rehabilitation for people in prison, advance community supervision and fines and fees reform, and promote successful reintegration.

Prior to joining Arnold Ventures, Carson worked as a consultant for the Fines and Fees Justice Center analyzing the impact of driver’s license suspensions for nonpayment of fees and fines. As a Criminal Justice Fellow at the Policy Advocacy Clinic at Berkeley Law, she co-authored a fiscal analysis on fees and fines in California, as well as performing quantitative research on the implementation of juvenile fee reform. Previously, Carson worked at the Brennan Center for Justice where her work focused on voting rights restoration and voter ID laws.

Carson received a master's in public policy from the University of California, Berkeley and a bachelor’s in government from Smith College.