Kristin Henning is the Blume Professor of Law and Director of the Juvenile Justice Clinic and Initiative at Georgetown Law, where she also served as the Associate Dean for Clinics and Experiential Learning from 2017-2020. Kris has been representing children accused of crime for more than 26 years and was the Lead Attorney for the Juvenile Unit of the D.C. Public Defender Service. She is currently the Director of the Mid-Atlantic Region of the Gault Center.
Kris trains state actors across the country on the impact of racial bias in the courts and the traumatic effects of policing in communities of color. She is the co-founder of several initiatives to combat racial inequities in the juvenile and criminal legal systems, including the Ambassadors for Racial Justice program, a Racial Justice Toolkit for defenders, and a Racial Justice Training Series. Professor Henning writes extensively about race, adolescence, and policing, and her book, The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth, was featured on the front page of the New York Times Book Review.
Kris has served on the Board of Directors for the Center for Children’s Law and Policy and was an Advisor to ALI’s Restatement on Children and the Law. She has received many awards including an Embracing the Legacy Award from the RFK Community Alliance, a Women of Distinction Award from the American Association of University Women, and the Leadership Prize from the Juvenile Law Center. Professor Henning earned her B.A. from Duke University, her J.D. from Yale Law School, and her LLM in Advocacy from Georgetown Law.
