Dr. Niaz Kasravi

Dr. Niaz Kasravi is a national expert and advocate in criminal justice, social justice, and racial justice.

She is Founder and Director of the Avalan Institute for Applied Research. She is also the former Director of the Criminal Justice Program at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) – the nation’s oldest civil rights organization. At the NAACP, Dr. Kasravi led several successful initiatives, including campaigns to: abolish the death penalty in Maryland; enact stronger anti-racial profiling legislation in New York City; and free a man wrongfully sentenced to life in Georgia.

Her career includes serving as Deputy Director of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, Lead Researcher & Associate for the Domestic Human Rights Program of Amnesty International USA, Director of Community Relations for the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian-Americans, and Policy Associate for Stop Prison Rape. She is also the author of a report on racial profiling for the NAACP (2014) and the co-author of another report on the same issue for Amnesty International (2004).

Dr. Kasravi holds a Ph.D. in Criminology, Law and Society from the University of California, Irvine. A National Science Foundation grant provided her an opportunity to travel to Iran in 2000 and work with Shirin Ebadi – the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize recipient – on human rights and the role of Iranian women in the reform movement.