Kris Henning

KRISTIN HENNING is the Director of the Juvenile Justice Clinic and Initiative at Georgetown Law. Professor Henning 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. 

Professor Henning 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 and a Racial Justice Toolkit for defenders. Professor Henning writes extensively about race, adolescence, and policing, and her book, The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth (2021) was featured on the front page of the New York Times Book Review. 

Professor Henning serves on the Board of Directors for the Public Welfare Foundation and is the Director of the Mid-Atlantic Region of the Gault Center. She previously 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 a 2023 Embracing the Legacy Award from the RFK Community Alliance, a 2022 Women of Distinction Award from the American Association of University Women, the 2021 Leadership Prize from the Juvenile Law Center, and the Robert E. Shepherd, Jr. Award for Excellence in Juvenile Defense by the Gault 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.