Peace and Justice Law Center
MANAGEMENT
CEO/Executive Director
Sean Garcia-Leys and Ameena Qazi, Co-Executive Directors
CEO/Executive Director Experience
Sean Garcia-Leys is a civil rights attorney and public safety advocate who works to end law enforcement’s counterproductive gang suppression strategies. He has successfully fought gang injunctions in LA, Orange, and Ventura counties; was instrumental in reducing the number of people in the CalGang database from 200,000 to 40,000 and ending LAPD’s participation in CalGang; and has testified as a gang expert in immigration court where he has successfully helped stop deportations. His research has been published by Oxford University Press and in white papers by the UC Irvine Law School and the Urban Peace Institute that are widely cited in academic publications, and he is a frequent source for the news media regarding gang policing. He is the recipient of the 2017 Chicano Hero award from Chicanxs Unidxs, the 2018 Equal Justice award from the ACLU of Southern California, and the UC Irvine Lauds and Laurels award. Before becoming an attorney, Mr. Garcia-Leys worked as a high school teacher in Watts and East LA, and as a labor organizer. Sean Garcia-Leys has also been a Visiting Scholar and MTO Fellow at the Criminal Justice Clinic of UCI Law School and a Commissioner of the Los Angeles County Probation Oversight Commission.
Staff Information
| Number of Full-Time Staff | 2 |
| Number of Part-Time Staff | 0 |
| Number of Volunteers | 4 |
| Number of Contract Staff | 0 |
Staff Demographics
Ethnicity
| Other | 0 |
| Caucasian | 0 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 1 |
| African American/Black | 0 |
| Asian American/Pacific Islander | 0 |
| Native American/American Indian | 0 |
Gender
| Male | 2 |
| Female | 0 |
| Not Specified | 0 |