Melissa Mahabir

Social Worker & Advocate

Melissa Mahabir has been a social worker for more than 15 years. Her passion for working with families who have experienced violence began when she became an AmeriCorps member mentoring youth involved in the juvenile justice system. Melissa then spent five years in Miami, Fla., as a case manager and as special projects coordinator advocating for youth in foster care. In New York City, Melissa worked as a domestic violence counselor/advocate at STEPS to End Family Violence and as a forensic social worker at Legal Aid Society. She is deeply committed to advocating on behalf of women in the criminal justice system, and her research on the impact of domestic violence on women’s criminal justice involvement has been published in The Journal of Interpersonal Violence. Melissa is currently helping to lead implementation of the New York Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act (a newly passed law that offers domestic violence survivors more sentencing discretion and currently incarcerated survivors an opportunity for resentencing). Melissa holds a B.A. from The College of William and Mary and a Masters in Social Work from Columbia University.