Heritage Foundation Leadership for America

David B. Muhlhausen is a Senior Policy Analyst at The Heritage Foundation's Center for Data Analysis.

Muhlhausen has emerged as one of the top Washington experts on criminal justice programs, particularly law enforcement grant programs administered by the Justice Department. He has been called on to testify before Congress on the new challenges and needs of local enforcement as they take the lead in homeland security, as well as on the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program and other initiatives that fall under the department.

In 2001, U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs Chairman Joseph Biden called a hearing specifically to discuss a Muhlhausen analysis of the COPS program that found the program to be ineffective in reducing violent crime. "I want my motive straight out front so everybody understands," Biden at the hearing. "I want to have a hearing on what has been, from The Heritage Foundation and other places, criticism that the COPS program does not work."

An expert in not only criminal justice policy but in evaluating the performance of government programs, Muhlhausen came to Heritage from the staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he specialized in crime and juvenile justice policy. Before that, he served as a manager at a juvenile correctional facility in Baltimore.

Muhlhausen's essays on crime have appeared in Forbes, The Washington Post, and The Washington Times. His television appearances include the PBS "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews," CNN's "Lou Dobbs Moneyline," and FOX News Channel's "O'Reilly Factor" and "Special Report with Brit Hume."

He earned a doctorate degree in public policy in 2004 from the University of Maryland- Baltimore County. He has bachelor's degree in political science on justice studies from Frostburg State University in 1993. He also has written on the privatization of juvenile justice services and juvenile justice policy for the Calvert Institute for Policy Research in Baltimore. He is an Adjunct Professor of Public Policy at George Mason University.