معرفی
Alicia Virani serves as Adjunct Faculty and The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Director of the Criminal Justice Program at UCLA School of Law, University of California, Los Angeles. Her work centers on systemic criminal justice reform through policy research and clinical education initiatives focused on decarceration.
Her academic credentials include a B.A. from Vassar College, J.D. from UCLA School of Law, and M.A. in Urban Planning from UCLA. She is also a graduate of the Critical Race Studies Program and David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and Policy.
Virani's research critically examines racial disparities in pretrial detention systems while developing community-based alternatives through restorative and transformative justice frameworks. She pioneered trauma-informed approaches to legal practice that address systemic violence and center marginalized communities' healing.
She received the prestigious Equal Justice Works Fellowship which funded the creation of Los Angeles County's Restorative Justice Community Conferencing program that diverts youth from juvenile incarceration.
As co-founder of the Pretrial Justice Clinic, Virani supervises law students representing indigent defendants in felony bail hearings while teaching courses on restorative justice methodologies. Her clinical model integrates direct representation with systemic advocacy to challenge carceral systems.
Her prior practice as a Deputy Public Defender in Orange County and leadership at California Conference for Equality and Justice established her dual expertise in courtroom advocacy and community-centered program development that continues to shape criminal justice reform movements.
