Jennifer Thompson founded Healing Justice in 2015, based on her personal experience as a crime survivor who, a decade later, experienced new trauma when it was discovered that an innocent man had been convicted. Jennifer’s personal journey with a wrongful conviction and exoneration inspired her to create an organization to provide direct support to others from similar cases and to address the harm caused to all by these justice failures.
Since its inception, Katie Monroe has served as the executive director. Katie’s dedication to this work began in 1992 when her mother was wrongly convicted. Driven by her mother’s case, Katie led an intense legal battle for justice, culminating in her mother’s exoneration in 2003. Her personal experience and passion for justice have fueled her work at Healing Justice, guiding the organization’s mission to prevent and heal the harms caused by wrongful convictions.
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In 2015, Healing Justice held its first of many listening sessions with people directly impacted by wrongful convictions to understand what they need in the wake of these injustices and guide the organization’s programs. In 2016, Healing Justice held its first healing retreat, launching what would become the cornerstone of our direct services. Since then, Healing Justice has partnered with the US Department of Justice, other national organizations, numerous prosecution and other criminal legal agencies, and social work and law schools to grow its programs and meet its important mission.
The organization now has staff and board members based throughout the U.S. We have provided direct support to hundreds of directly harmed people in 28 states and provided training and professional assistance to thousands of practitioners in 18 states and nationally.
Jennifer pioneered restorative justice in wrongful conviction cases by building a friendship with the man who had been wrongly convicted. They later co-authored the bestselling book and, in 2015, received the Special Courage Award from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime.
Jennifer is a certified trauma healing provider and trained restorative justice practitioner who leads both circles and listening sessions nationwide. She is also a certified trainer and has helped train thousands of criminal justice professionals on providing victim services and protecting victims’ rights. Jennifer also provides peer support to other victims and survivors of sexual assault and exoneration cases and is a nationally recognized and award-winning public speaker and advocate. Jennifer served as a commissioner on the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission from 2013 to 2018 and, in 2016, received the honor of being named North Carolinian of the Year. Jennifer has appeared in numerous print, radio, and television media worldwide. She is a graduate of Elon University.
Healing Justice is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization – 47-3424404
11312 US 15-501 N, Suite 107 – #181, Chapel Hill, NC 27517
You can also reach us at: connect@healingjusticeproject.org.
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