Heather Warnken serves as executive director of the Center for Criminal Justice Reform at the University of Baltimore School of Law, working to support community driven efforts to advance public safety and address the harm and inequity caused by the criminal legal system. She leads the Center’s policy advocacy work at the state, local and national levels, including contributing to numerous legislative efforts in Annapolis and successful passage of multiple recent reforms including the Expungement Reform Act of 2025 and Victim Compensation Reform Act of 2024. Warnken serves on the Executive Committee of the Maryland Equitable Justice Collaborative, a historic initiative launched in 2023 by Public Defender Natasha Dartigue and Attorney General Anthony Brown to address mass incarceration and its extreme racial disparities, and co-chairs the Law Enforcement Policies and Practices Work Group.
Prior to coming to UBalt, she served as visiting fellow at the US Department of Justice in the first-ever position dedicated to bridging the gap between research, policy and practice to improve the response to communities impacted by crime victimization, and as legal policy associate at the Warren Institute on Law & Social Policy at University of California, Berkeley School of Law. She was recently recognized by The Daily Record as a ‘Leader in Law’ and as a ‘Gamechanger’ by Baltimore Magazine.