Krissy Roth is Senior Policy Associate leading LDF’s criminal legal system policy portfolio, including supporting LDF’s Justice in Public Safety Project. She brings more than a dozen years of policy experience to her work, which includes collaborating with partners to prevent the expansion of the federal death penalty, advocating for its abolition, and supporting clemency efforts, including successful efforts to commute the federal death sentences of 37 men from federal death row.
Krissy works with partners to shape federal legislation and policies to meaningfully address systemic failures of policing, ameliorate the disproportionate harms levied on Black communities through our sentencing system, and advocate for alternative responders and drivers of public safety divorced from the criminal legal system. She also collaborates with local partners in Baltimore and across Maryland on police accountability and community safety programs that seek to divert contact with the criminal legal system.
Prior to joining LDF, Krissy led the Criminal Justice Program at Amnesty International USA (AIUSA). She worked regularly with grassroots activists, impacted communities, and fellow advocates to abolish the death penalty and advance police accountability legislation, with a focus on efforts to stop unlawful use of force by law enforcement. At both LDF and AIUSA, Krissy has represented the institutions before international officials and testified before the Maryland legislature and the Baltimore City Council on issues ranging from local control of the Baltimore Police Department to police use of force. Krissy holds a Bachelor of Science from Ithaca College in Communications Management and Design with a minor in Politics.
