Robert Rooks

Co-Founder and Board Chair, Just Safe

Robert Rooks is a seasoned organizer and national criminal justice expert with two decades of experience scaling justice reform organizations and winning landmark legislative victories across multiple states. He is the co-founder and Board Chair of the Just Safe (previously Alliance for Safety and Justice), where he previously built Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice into a network of more than 150,000 members and oversaw state-based advocacy work. 

He has also led major transformations in probation and parole systems as CEO of REFORM Alliance. 

In 2014, Robert was the Organizing Director for the “Yes on Prop 47” campaign, a statewide ballot initiative that reduced incarceration and redirected savings toward drug treatment, K-12 programming, and victim services. Earlier, he served as the NAACP’s National Criminal Justice Director and California State Director.

Throughout his career, Robert has worked alongside crime survivors and people impacted by the justice system to build safer communities and advance solutions rooted in sentencing reform and crime victim advocacy.

Robert holds a Master's Degree in Social Work from the University of Connecticut and a degree in Psychology from Prairie View A&M University.