WPI Graduate Network: Graduate Profiles
Karen Shain, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
Karen was a member of the inaugural class of the Women’s Policy Institute in 2003 as a member of the criminal justice team. Since 2007, she has been a mentor for the Institute providing guidance to the criminal justice teams. We asked Karen to share her journey about her early years of activism as an anti-war activist and how that led her to advocacy on criminal justice issues. In this interview, Karen shares her impressions and experience in the Women’s Policy Institute as both a fellow and a mentor. Q: You were an anti-war activist in the 1970s. How did you become involved in criminal justice work? I started visiting women prisoners in 1976 as a participant in a women’s prisoner project at UC Santa Cruz. I was leading a two-day workshop on women in Q: You’ll soon become the policy director of LSPC. How has your experience in the Women’s Policy Institute helped shape your perspective on the role of policy advocacy to achieve social justice? The Women’s Policy Institute shifted my understanding of policy work. When I started the program I thought policy advocacy was somewhat superfluous. Now I look at policy advocacy as a powerful tool to shape the criminal justice debate and create meaningful change. In my fellowship year, there were only two members on the criminal justice team. Recognizing our limited capacity, we made the strategic decision to advocate for an informational hearing on the conditions of confinement in women’s prisons in lieu of a piece of legislation. We saw it as an opportunity to raise awareness and organize around an issue that received little to no support from lawmakers and the general public. It took six years to lay enough groundwork to shift people’s thinking and make the hearing happen. This year Senator Carol Liu held an informational hearing on the impact of budget cuts on women’s prisons. The hearing helped us gain commitment from legislators to focus on the issue and it led multiple constituencies to coalesce around a specific policy agenda. Through my experience, I’ve learned that while policy change happens incrementally it can be transformational. I’ve seen how policy advocacy can change the debate and create structural change. Q: What have you learned as a Women’s Policy Institute mentor? This is my third year mentoring the criminal justice team and every year I learn something new. In my first year as a mentor, my team passed AB 2070 into law. The bill delayed the breakup of families by allowing social workers the discretion to extend the timeline before parental rights were terminated and it expanded reunification services for families following incarceration. During my fellowship year, I worked on an informational hearing and did not have the opportunity to write bill language, do a budget estimate or lobby legislators and the governor for support. I was able to share my issue expertise and Since the Women’s Policy Institute fellowship, Karen has won numerous awards. In 2005 she received a Social Justice Sabbatical from Vanguard Foundation. She was on the Community Adjunct Faculty of San Francisco State University Master’s in Public Health Program from 2004 to 2008. In 2007, Karen received the Eldership and Sacred Teacher Award from the Center for Young Women’s Development. Read More Graduate Profiles |
Karen Shain
