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Director, US Program of Human Rights Watch

David C. Fathi is the director of the US Program of Human Rights Watch, where he and his colleagues conduct fact-finding investigations into human rights abuses in all regions of the world and publish their findings.  Formerly senior staff counsel at the ACLU National Prison Project in Washington, DC, Fathi has been plaintiffs’ counsel in challenges to “supermax” prisons in four states, and has represented prisoners in a challenge to conditions in the Maricopa County (Arizona) Jail, operated by the infamous Sheriff Joe Arpaio.  He is a graduate of the University of Washington and the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley.

Professor, University of Maryland
Director, The National Center on Education, Disability and Juvenile Justice

Dr. Leone, a Professor of Special Education, specializes in Behavior Disorders at the University of Maryland-College Park. His experience includes direct service to troubled youth as well as field-based research which examines the multidimensional problems associated with behavior disorders. Dr. Leone points to the role of environmental and cultural factors in the inception of behavior disorders and believes educators need to take a multidisciplinary approach when implementing programs for troubled or troubling youth. Dr. Leone's research interests focus on program environments for troubled youth,  educational entitlements of incarcerated youth, and policy studies. He is currently furthering these interests through several grant-supported research projects. He directs The National Center on Education, Disability, and Juvenile Justice, a research, training and technical assistance project funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Dr. Leone has had numerous articles published in professional journals and has made many presentations at national, state, and local conferences on topics related to the effective treatment and instruction of behaviorally disordered youth. He received his Master’s in Education from the University of Iowa, and his Ph.D. in Special Education from the University of Washington.

Deputy Executive Director, Coalition for Juvenile Justice

Tara Andrews, Esq., is currently Deputy Executive Director of the Coalition for Juvenile Justice (CJJ), a statewide coalition of individuals and organizations united to identify and reform those parts of Maryland’s justice systems that perpetuate the cycle of poverty and racial injustice. Prior to becoming Deputy Executive Director of CJJ, Tara practiced civil rights law with the Public Justice Center, a nonprofit legal services firm in Baltimore City, and chaired the Maryland Juvenile Justice Coalition, a statewide coalition dedicated to reforming Maryland’s dysfunctional juvenile justice system. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Public Administration at the University of Baltimore, where she lives.

Principal, The Raben Group

Katharine Huffman is a Principal at The Raben Group, LLC, an advocacy firm that develops creative strategies, manages issue campaigns, and communicates effectively with policymakers. Ms. Huffman has worked with a variety of nonprofit advocacy organizations to identify policy goals, develop short- and long-term strategic plans, and build the organizational programming and resources necessary to achieve success. Prior to joining The Raben Group, Ms. Huffman served as the Director of State Affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance. She also founded and directed the organization's first state-level office, which was in New Mexico. Ms. Huffman began her legal career as a civil-rights litigator and Soros Justice Fellow at the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta, Georgia.

Jody Kent

National Coordinator, Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, At-Large

Jody Kent is the National Coordinator of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth.  She works with advocates around the country to end the practice of sentencing youth to life without the possibility of parole, using a multi-pronged strategy that includes public education, legislative advocacy, and litigation.  Prior to joining the Campaign for Fair Sentencing of Youth in February 2009, Jody served as the Public Policy Coordinator for the ACLU National Prison Project (NPP) for two and a half years, where she spearheaded a campaign to amend the Prison Litigation Reform Act.  Before joining the ACLU’s National Prison Project, she worked for three years at the ACLU of Southern California (ACLU-SC) in Los Angeles as the Jails Project Coordinator.  In her role at the ACLU-SC, Jody was responsible for monitoring the L.A. county jails to ensure that certain legal requirements were met and basic services were provided to people incarcerated there.  In June 2006, Jody was appointed to a panel of experts that reported to a federal district judge to negotiate and develop plans to reduce overcrowding at the nation’s largest jail.  Jody holds a BA from Boston College and a Master in Public Management from the University of Maryland’s Public Policy School.

Joseph B. Tulman

Professor of Law, University of the District of Columbia

Professor Tulman directs the Juvenile and Special Education Law Clinic at the University of the District of Columbia. He has worked as part of the Juvenile Law Clinic at Antioch University, where he later joined the faculty of the law school. He went on to join the faculty of the University of District of Columbia in its public law school. He is formerly the deputy director of the Equal Justice Foundation (precursor of NAPIL/Equal Justice Works), an organization dedicated to promoting equal access to justice and to creating opportunities for law students and lawyers to served underrepresented people. Tulman has served as council in numerous cases on behalf of youth and families involved in the juvenile justice system and/or in contact with the child and family welfare systems. He has authored a number of articles regarding the unnecessary detention of children and has pioneered the use of special education advocacy for children in the neglect and delinquency systems. Under mayoral appointment, Professor Tulman served, from September 2001 until March 2003, as chair of the District of Columbia Juvenile Justice Advisory Group, of which he remains a member. He currently serves on the boards of The Justice Policy Institute and School Talk, Inc., and he is a member of the advisory boards for the Southern Poverty Law Center's School-to-Prison Pipeline Reform Project, the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, and the Mid-Atlantic Juvenile Defender Center.  Prof. Tulman is a graduate of the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill law school and Antioch University, where he received a Master’s degree in teaching.

Reverend Heber Brown, III

Pastor, Pleasant Hope Baptist Church

Rev. Heber Brown, III is blessed to serve as Pastor of Pleasant Hope Baptist Church in Baltimore – a historic congregation that wrestles openly with the question of what it means to “love God and neighbor” in a racially, economically, and religiously diverse community. In addition to serving on the Boards of the Govans Ecumenical Development Corporation, St. Joseph’s Hospital Cancer Community Advisory Council, and the Justice Policy Institute (Washington, DC), Pastor Brown is also Vice President of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance.  He is a regular and respected voice in local media outlets and is a blogger who writes about religion, policy, and activism at Faith In Action Online.Com.  He is the recipient of the Ella Baker Freedom Fighter Award, the Kingdom Ambassador Award, the United Workers’ Human Rights Champion Award, and in 2007, The Baltimore Afro American Newspaper identified Pastor Brown as one of the “25 Under 40 Emerging Black History Leaders.” Pastor Brown earned his B.S. in Psychology from Morgan State University and went on to earn his Master of Divinity degree from the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University.