Emily Baxter

Emily Baxter, former Robina Institute Fellow (2013-2015), is the founder and executive director of We Are All Criminals. Prior to this, she served as the Director of Advocacy and Public Policy at the Council on Crime and Justice (CCJ), where she developed and implemented CCJ’s public policy agenda, services for individuals with criminal records, and education of employers to promote the hiring of individuals with criminal records. Before joining CCJ, Baxter worked for the Regional Native Public Defense Corporation, representing indigent Anishinabe men, women, and children of the Leech Lake and White Earth Bands of Ojibwe charged with crimes in Minnesota State court.

We Are All Criminals is a non-profit organization dedicated to challenging society’s perceptions of what it means to be “criminal.” Through shared stories of those who committed or were accused of committing crimes, those who got away with them, and those who have been directly affected by the criminal justice system, we seek to erase the barriers that separate us. Through WAAC, Baxter travels across the country, meeting and collaborating with stakeholders and changemakers in criminal justice reform. She began developing We Are All Criminals through an Archibald Bush Foundation Fellowship in 2012. 

During her fellowship, Baxter focused on the collateral consequences of criminal and juvenile records with the goal of fostering dialogue and rethinking society's concepts of crime, criminality, and redemption.

Baxter is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and the University of St. Thomas School of Law. She now lives in Durham, North Carolina.