The mission of Advancing Real Change, Inc. is to create a more just world by advancing empathy, dignity, and equity within and beyond the criminal legal system.
Donate NowAdvancing Real Change, Inc. envisions a world where causing one another irreversible harm is an anomaly, not a daily occurrence.
We unearth the true histories of people accused of crimes and share their stories with decision-makers to foster empathy and understanding. We aim to take what we learn through this work—mitigation investigation—and uplift those experiences to reshape and rebuild social systems so that communities and individuals may truly flourish. Our vision is the transformation of the criminal legal system and all social systems into systems that deliver true justice.
Founded in 2014, Advancing Real Change, Inc., is a leader in the field of mitigation investigation, providing direct services to indigent clients as members of criminal defense teams, offering training and education to defenders across the nation, and applying the values and practices of mitigation investigation to all areas of the criminal legal system.
ARC has regional offices in Baltimore, MD, Jacksonville, FL, and Birmingham, AL.
Elizabeth Vartkessian has been investigating the life histories of those facing the most severe penalties possible in the United States since 2004. She started working as a mitigation specialist in Houston, Texas at a time when it was the epicenter of capital punishment. There she learned and developed skills aimed at helping decision-makers have a full picture of her clients.
After starting a successful private practice and obtaining her Ph.D. in Law from the University of Oxford, Dr. Vartkessian and several colleagues created Advancing Real Change, Inc. (ARC) a national non-profit located in Baltimore, MD dedicated to conducting high-quality life history investigations in criminal cases. As the founding Executive Director, Dr. Vartkessian is committed to having the history of an accused at the forefront of their criminal cases. She has worked as a mitigation specialist with defense teams in trial and post-conviction cases in state and federal jurisdictions and is an international expert on the collection and effective presentation of mitigating evidence, as well as the standard of care required by the defense in death penalty and juvenile cases.
Dr. Vartkessian’s approach to investigating and presenting evidence is informed by research. She is a researcher with the Capital Jury Project (CJP), an ongoing research project sponsored by the National Science Foundation that seeks to understand how capital jurors make their sentencing decisions and whether those decisions are made in keeping with the law. The results of her research were widely cited by the American Bar Association’s review of the Texas capital sentencing system. Her publications include articles in law reviews, peer review journals, and opinion pieces. Her book on mitigation and the criminal legal system, The Deserving, was published by Bloomsbury U.S. and Footnote Press U.K earlier this year.
In addition to having received her Ph.D. in Law from the University of Oxford, Dr. Vartkessian holds an M.S. in Comparative Social Policy from the University of Oxford and B.A.s in Philosophy and Political Science from the George Washington University, where she was a Presidential Scholar. In 2015 she was awarded the J. M. K. Innovation Prize for her efforts to bring mitigation to all areas of the criminal justice process. In 2018, the City Council of Baltimore passed a resolution praising Dr. Vartkessian’s efforts to bring human dignity into the justice system. In 2024, she was listed as one of the Top 100 Women in Maryland in Business and Law by The Daily Record.
Erin Fiaschetti has worked with nonprofit organizations and government agencies for more than a decade. Her experience includes the fields of domestic violence, local legislation, community development, and poverty alleviation. Erin received her Master of Social Work from the University of Maryland School of Social Work, where she studied Management and Community Organizing, and her B.A. in English and Sociology from Vanderbilt University.
Katherine Ashton provides direct supervision to staff in addition to working on behalf of ARC’s capital and juvenile clients. Katherine has worked on capital cases in both federal and state courts, juvenile resentencing cases, and sentencing modifications for those convicted of crimes as children. Katherine joined ARC, Inc. with a background in community-based advocacy and direct service to individuals experiencing homelessness, and became involved with mitigation work during an internship with the University of Texas School of Law’s Capital Punishment Clinic. She joined ARC, Inc. after receiving her Master of Science in Social Work degree (MSSW) from the University of Texas at Austin and her Master of Divinity degree (MDiv) from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Katherine is a Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW).
Over the last 15 years, Mary has worked with youth-centered institutions and nonprofit organizations. Her service has included advocating for students with disabilities and educating adjudicated youth in Maryland. In her previous role with ARC, Inc., she has been the Development Manager. Mary has earned a Master of Nonprofit Management from Notre Dame of Maryland University where she studied Grant Writing and Professional Writing. In addition, she has received a Bachelor of Arts in English and Communication from Eureka College.
Jeremy has nearly twenty years experience in nonprofit administration and communications. Early in his career, he learned about the importance of mitigation investigation and putting clients’ stories at the forefront of their cases as the office manager for the Gulf Region Advocacy Center in Houston, Texas. Since then, he obtained his MFA in creative nonfiction from the New School and has served as managing editor for Trinity Wall Street, a church with an active social justice ministry that gives over one million in grants a year. Most recently, he was the Senior Writer for the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins, where he helped launch the new center and led projects ranging from developing a new website, coordinating speaking events and panels, and email and social media campaigns. He served as a founding member and Vice President of the Board of Directors for Advancing Real Change, Inc. before joining the team as Director of Development and Communications.
For over twenty years, Amy has fought for clients in criminal and capital cases as an attorney, mitigation specialist, and investigator. She has worked at the trial, habeas, and appellate stages. She started her career as an attorney with the Georgia Justice Project in Atlanta, Georgia, providing highly effective, holistic representation to clients through the attorney-social worker team model. She was a member of the founding staff of the Georgia Capital Defender in 2005, and worked at the Georgia Appellate Practice and Educational Resource Center.
Amy has trained in restorative justice practices, including Defense-Initiated Victim Outreach (DIVO), and has participated in victim-offender mediations. Amy worked with the Capital Appellate Project in San Francisco and taught both law school and high school students in the Bay Area. She consults with capital trial teams around the country on mitigation investigation and development, and has worked as a mitigation specialist on non-capital cases. Amy earned her JD and MSW at Boston College. She is a member of the Georgia Bar.
Accounting Manager
Stacey has over thirty years in the accounting field working for a broad range of organizations. She is a dedicated professional in helping to maximize cash flow and long term growth through effective accounting systems and procedures. She has extensive knowledge in analysis, organization, troubleshooting, research, training, monitoring, and improvement of accounting procedures. Stacey received her AA degree from Baltimore City Community College.
Life History Investigator
Kait desires to bring trauma-informed and anti-racist advocacy to those who are within the carceral legal system. Prior to joining ARC Inc., Kait worked in mitigation on capital cases in Texas. She carries with her years of experience working with refugee and immigrant communities and in various roles within the child-welfare system. She is passionate about bridging the gap between micro and macro worlds with her knowledge of neurodevelopment, trauma, and policy. Kait is a proud first-generation college grad with her Master’s of Science in Social Work from The University of Texas at Austin and a B.A. in psychology from Dallas Baptist University.
Training and Technology Specialist
Reginald joined ARC with a commitment to advancing dignity and equity within systems designed to serve vulnerable populations. Throughout his career in social services, he has built infrastructure to support individuals with disabilities, coordinated training programs, and ensured people received the services they needed. In his role at ARC, he coordinates training events, manages the organization’s learning platform and resource library, and provides technical support to ensure defenders nationwide have access to the tools they need to serve their clients effectively. Reginald is on track to receive his BSW from Walden University in 2027 and holds professional certifications in disability rights and accessibility.
Life History Investigator
Judith joined ARC, Inc. to support individuals charged with or convicted of capital crimes in federal and state courts. She has a background in sociocultural anthropology, global health, community-based harm reduction, and human rights advocacy. Judith received her M.A. in Medical Anthropology and Russian, East European, and Central Asian Studies from Harvard University and her B.A. in Anthropology and Russian/East European Studies from Tufts University. Judith speaks fluent Russian and conversational French.
Life History Investigator
Ashley joined ARC because of her desire to make the greatest impact for individuals facing the full power of the carceral legal system. She has devoted much her 16 years as a social worker to working on behalf indigent clients as a public defense investigator. Driven by the core values that all people are worthy of dignity and respect and that no person’s story is limited to the worst thing they have ever done or been accused of, she is dedicated to working with clients to tell their stories and humanize them within a system designed to de-humanize them. She is committed to making change within the legal system, even if that change is a just outcome for one client at a time. Ashley has a BA in Social Work from Auburn University and a Masters in Social Work from Florida State University. Ashley is a Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW).
Life History Investigator
Grace joined ARC, Inc. with the desire to be a part of creating systemic change in the criminal legal system. She brings experience working in a case management capacity with clients throughout criminal, housing, and family cases and in non-capital mitigation work in Chicago. She holds a Master of Social Work, Bachelor of Social Work, and Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice and Criminology from Loyola University Chicago.
Records Specialist
Cameron joined ARC, Inc. with a commitment to addressing systemic inequalities and supporting more livable communities. She holds a B.A. in Geography and Anthropology from the University of Vermont, where she researched the impact of social and environmental conditions on individual health and safety. Her experience spans homeless services, food insecurity initiatives, and post-incarceration advocacy.
Outreach Coordinator
Victoria joined ARC with an interest in advocating for more empathetic, humane practices that affirm each individual’s dignity within the criminal legal system. She has experience with the Bonner Foundation, teaching life skill classes at the Grundy County Jail, implementing harm reduction initiatives on her college campus, and collaborating with a physician researching legal precedents to ensure access to Hepatitis C treatment in Tennessee correctional facilities. She holds a B.A. in Politics from the University of the South. She speaks fluent Spanish.
President
Kristina Leslie is a Capital Resource Counsel (CRC) where she directly represents persons charged in federal capital cases around the country, and provides advice and training to trial teams. Prior to joining the CRC Project, she was an Assistant Federal Public Defender for the District of Maryland and represented clients at all stages of proceedings in federal district court. Prior to joining the Federal Public Defender in 2018, Ms. Leslie served as an assistant capital defender in Northern Virginia, which exclusively represented individuals charged with capital murder at the trial level. She began her career as a state public defender in Baltimore City.
Vice President
Sarah Gottlieb is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Law at Washington and Lee University School of Law. She is the director of the Criminal Clinic, where she teaches law students to provide exceptional representation to indigent clients via client-centered, trauma-informed lawyering. She researches in the areas of criminal law and procedure, with a focus on evaluating the efficacy of criminal legal reforms. Prior to joining W&L, Professor Gottlieb was a clinical teaching fellow in the Innocence Project Clinic at the University of Baltimore School of Law. Before her academic career, she spent eight years at the Maryland Office of the Public Defender defending clients charged with serious felonies. She began her career in public defense at the Committee for Public Counsel Services in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Secretary
Adrián de la Rosa is a capital investigator and mitigation specialist with experience working in Texas at both the federal and state habeas levels. Prior to his work in the capital community, he led the community education efforts at the Texas Fair Defense Project (TFDP), a nonprofit legal advocacy organization that works to improve the fairness of Texas’s criminal courts to ensure that all Texans have access to justice. Adrián also has worked as an adjunct associate professor in the Sociology Department at Austin Community College and previously served on the board of the Workers Defense Project (Proyecto Defensa Laboral), a membership-based organization that empowers low-income workers to achieve fair employment through education, direct services, organizing and strategic partnerships. He currently serves on the Commission on Immigrant Affairs for the City of Austin where he focuses on issues of common concern to immigrants and immigrant communities. Adrián is a proud native West Texan, fluent Spanish-speaker, and actively volunteers with several nonprofits in the Austin community, while also mentoring Latinx and other underserved community college students.
Treasurer
Francesca Jean Baptiste is a Senior Associate with the Annie E. Casey Foundation. In this role she oversees the Family Stability and Assets portfolio, which focuses on strategies to build youth financial well-being and alleviate burdensome debt as a way toaddress racial wealth gaps primarily in the South and Southwest.Prior to joining the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Francesca was the Director of Tax Partnerships at the CASH Campaign of Maryland where she led a coalition of partner organizations that provided free tax preparation and asset building programs through the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program.
Francesca holds a J.D. from Washington and Lee School of Law and a Bachelor of Science degree in Legal Studies from New York City College of Technology. She is currently pursuing an LLM in Taxation from the University of Baltimore.
Dr. Inderjit “Vicky” Basra is a dedicated leader in social work with over 20 years of experience focused on improving the lives of girls and young women. As President and CEO of the Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center in Jacksonville, Florida, she leads efforts in girl-centered, trauma-informed care and advocacy, driving innovative policy and practice reforms. Dr. Basra holds a DSW and MSW from the University of Tennessee and is recognized for her research on coercive trafficking tactics, coining the term “Predatory Helpfulness.” She has held key roles at Family Support Services, Vanderbilt University’s Project Safe, and YWCA Nashville, making significant contributions to social justice and equity.
Carla Crowder is the Executive Director of Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice, a research and policy advocacy nonprofit focused on challenging mass incarceration and excessive punishment in Alabama.
An attorney, Carla has won release for dozens of individuals men originally sentenced to die in prison, represented individuals on Alabama’s death row, and successfully advocated for parole for numerous others. Under her leadership, Appleseed has tripled in size and become the statewide leader in Second Chance sentencing policy, advocacy and direct legal and reentry services.
Prior to attending law school, Carla worked as a newspaper reporter covering criminal justice, prisons, child welfare and the ways that government intersects with impoverished communities. Carla’s work as a journalist earned multiple awards including the Thurgood Marshall Award from the Death Penalty Information Center. She has twice been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. In 2024, she was named Alabama’s Woman of the Year by USA Today.
Bernadette Donovan is a founding partner of Donovan & Engle, provides client-centered criminal defense representation consistent with our values of empathy, thoroughness, hard work, and fearless advocacy. Our firm is particularly experienced in the trial and post-conviction defense of serious crimes.
Bernadette is particularly experienced in the defense of complex criminal cases, including capital murder and other serious crimes. Because of this experience, Bernadette is often called on to educate legal professionals and law students about high-stakes criminal defense issues.
Prior to the abolition of Virginia’s death penalty in 2021, Bernadette co-directed the Virginia Capital Case Clearinghouse (“VC3”), a yearlong clinic at Washington & Lee School of Law that provided legal support for Virginia capital defense teams. At that time, Bernadette was also Co-Chair of the Virginia Capital Defense Workshop, an annual multi-day training for attorneys defending death penalty cases. In recent years, Bernadette has taught courses in Death Penalty Law and Habeas Corpus as an Adjunct Professor at Washington & Lee University School of Law. Bernadette also has presented at many criminal defense trainings, including ones hosted by the Virginia Indigent Defense Commission and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. As an experienced death penalty litigator, Bernadette has trained and consulted with numerous capital defense teams across the country.
Nicole is a San Francisco native and has worked in Silicon Valley’s Learning and Development field for 15 years, previously at Genentech and most recently, Facebook. An entrepreneur at heart, she founded hiip, a one for one fanny pack company where a kit of basic necessities is hand-delivered to a person in need on the street for every bag sold. hiip encourages community involvement by inviting locals to join in on handouts with organizations like the Salvation Army with a goal to see and connect the marginalized. When not actively connecting with local neighbors through her homemade food delivery ministry, Meet the Street, Nicole enjoys traveling and discovering all the food around San Francisco. She holds a degree in Journalism from Pepperdine University.
Thea Posel is a clinical assistant professor in the Capital Punishment Clinic at Texas Law and the UT School of Social Work, also serving as the dual degree advisor. She teaches courses at UT on capital representation, mitigation advocacy, and forensic social work. Thea has experience with capital defense teams in Colorado, Florida, and Texas, from pre-trial litigation preparation and consulting to state and federal post-conviction cases. She works on Texas state court advocacy and consulting at the capital trial, appellate, and habeas stages and her scholarship focuses on jury selection, jury decision-making, and mitigation investigation and presentation.
Mridula Raman joined Berkeley Law in 2019 and is the Deputy Director at the Death Penalty Clinic. She is a capital-defense lawyer who represents primarily death-sentenced prisoners in state post-conviction and federal habeas proceedings. She also researches and teaches in the pregnancy criminalization space.
Throughout her legal career, Raman has sought justice for indigent death-sentence clients through zealous and creative advocacy before state and federal courts across the country. Her work has included litigation, including for clients under warrant of execution, and clemency efforts, among other forms of advocacy. While at Berkeley Law, Raman has represented clients at trial, appellate, and post-conviction proceedings in Alabama, Arizona, and Texas.
Scott Sundby holds the Robert C. Josefsberg Chair in Criminal Advocacy at the University of Miami School of Law. Much of his research has been conducted as part of the Capital Jury Project, a study funded by the National Science Foundation that is designed to understand how juries decide whether or not to impose the death penalty. As part of the Project, he oversaw the interviewing of a large number of jurors who actually served on capital juries, half of which returned death sentences and half of which opted for life sentences. His articles based on the Project have examined a variety of aspects of the death-penalty decision, while his book, A Life and Death Decision: A Jury Weighs the Death Penalty, focuses on the human side of the decision by listening to how different jurors from the same case describe their jury’s decision to impose a death sentence; the book was named a Finalist for the American Bar Association’s best law book of the year.
Chris has been Senior Pro Bono Counsel at the global law firm Reed Smith LLP since 2004. In that capacity, on a full-time basis Chris manages the pro bono work of Reed Smith’s 1800 lawyers, most of whom are in the United States. For 25 years before becoming Reed Smith’s Senior Pro Bono Counsel, Chris was a litigation partner at the firm. Chris graduated from Princeton University and Michigan Law School. Prior to law practice he served on active duty as an Army Intelligence officer, including one year in Vietnam.
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