Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth

Sujatha Baliga will assist the Oakland juvenile justice system in adopting restorative justice practices to decrease its reliance on incarceration and other forms of punishment. Her project will implement a system to help offenders and victims of crime collectively resolve conflicts and root out the causes of juvenile offending. By tracking youth participants and assessing victim and community responses, the project aims to show that restorative practices can decrease the number of youth who end up in facilities, strengthen neighborhoods most affected by mass incarceration, and save public dollars.

Baliga was drawn to restorative justice through her work involving crime victims and the accused. After working with survivors of domestic violence, rape, and child sexual abuse, she became an appellate public defender, most recently in death penalty cases. Baliga is a consultant to the Stanford Criminal Justice Center and has taught Restorative Justice at New College School of Law and the California Institute for Integral Studies. She is frequently invited to address groups of prisoners and restorative justice programs. Baliga also serves as volunteer counsel to the Liberation Prison Project, an organization dedicated to assisting Buddhist prisoners. She earned her BA from Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges, her JD from the University of Pennsylvania, and has held two federal clerkships. Her research interests include victims’ voices in restorative justice practices, the forgiveness of seemingly unforgivable acts, and Tibetan notions of justice.

Oakland, CA  |