EQUIS: Justicia Para las Mujeres
Mexico City, Mexico
Karen has been selected as a Harvard Public Service Venture Fund Kaufman Fellow. She will be joining EQUIS Justicia para las Mujeres (Equis Justice for Women), a feminist organization based in Mexico City whose mission is to transform legal institutions and public policies in order to improve access to justice for all women. Prior to coming to HLS, Karen completed an MSc in Criminal Justice Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where she was a Chevening Scholar. Her final LL.M. paper at HLS focused on the different dynamics and struggles that incarcerated women experience in prison.
Karen received her Law Degree from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) in 2015. Prior to pursuing her graduate studies, she worked as a research assistant at the Legal Research Institute at UNAM, and later as a senior researcher for two major think tanks in Mexico (CIDE and CIDAC-México Evalúa). During that time, she focused her research and advocacy efforts primarily on criminal justice issues, including prison conditions, access to justice, gender, restorative justice and drug policy. Through these experiences, Karen developed advocacy skills, and was able to work closely with a large number of decision makers and practitioners in the Mexican criminal justice system.
As Kaufman fellow at EQUIS, Karen will be working as project officer in their “Women, Imprisonment, Social Reintegration and Drug Policy” project. There, she will carry out research and policy advocacy, working directly with women who are or have been formerly imprisoned, and actively monitoring the design and implementation of relevant public policies on gender and criminal justice policy in Mexico.