Joanna Adjoian

Overview

Joanna Visser Adjoian has dedicated her career to advocating for young people in the adult criminal justice system. Prior to co founding YSRP Joanna served as Associate Director and Staff Attorney of the Toll Public Interest Center at the University of Pennsylvania Law School where she guided students in pursuit of social justice and created the Juvenile Justice Working Group. Prior to joining the Toll Center Joanna clerked for Judge Joel Schneider in the United States District Court of the District of New Jersey and completed a Penn Law Postgraduate Fellowship at Juvenile Law Center where she advanced efforts to end the practice of sentencing children to life in prison without parole. Joanna serves as co chair of the Legal Rights of Children Committee of the Philadelphia Bar Association s Public Interest Section and she sits on the board of the Philadelphia Student Union and the steering committee of the Pennsylvania Coalition for the Fair Sentencing of Youth. She graduated from Penn Law School where she was awarded the Black Law Student Association s Agent for Change Award and the Jackson Healy Public Service Award. Before law school Joanna worked as a paralegal in the Family Law Unit of Philadelphia Legal Assistance and taught English in Ecuador. Joanna graduated cum laude from Penn with a degree in urban studies and in Hispanic studies.