Jasmine L. Tyler,
principal & founder
Jasmine grew up visiting her father in prison, developing a keen early understanding of structural oppression in the US. Her life experience along with her academic training have created a distinguished fifteen-year career influencing Congress and the executive branch on federal criminal justice, drug and public health, immigration, and national security policy.
Now an Adjunct Professor in the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University, she teaches courses on both race and the criminal injustice system as well as institutional bias in policymaking. For the last decade, Jasmine led the reframing of marijuana policy as a racial justice issue as well as the policy drafting and strategy, culminating in the historic passage of the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2019 in the House in 2020.
Most recently, Jasmine served as the Advocacy Director for the US Program at Human Rights Watch, during the Trump administration and advised Congress on federal criminal justice, immigration, and national security policy issues.
Photo Credit: Jennifer Hughes Photography
Black Woman Activist Professor Political Consultant Mother
Prior to joining HRW, she was the senior policy advisor for drug policy and global health in the Washington, D.C. office of Open Society Foundations, where she also worked with Congress and the executive branch to shape domestic and international policy, helping to pass the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016 and repeal the federal ban on funding syringe exchange programs.
Previously, Jasmine served as deputy director of National Affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, and helped spearhead the campaign to eliminate the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine, culminating in the passage of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010. Earlier in her career, Jasmine served as the research director for the Justice Policy Institute and as a sentencing advocate in public defenders’ offices in Fairfax, VA and Washington, D.C.
Throughout her career, Jasmine has engaged in the international human rights arena, participating in numerous treaty reviews conducted by the United Nations, including the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission, Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the Commission to Eliminate Racial Discrimination, and the 2016 UN General Assembly on the World Drug Problem.
In her spare time, Jasmine volunteers at her son’s elementary school and their local food pantry in Northern Virginia, as well as co-leading a community diversity, equity, and inclusion book club. Jasmine serves on the governing board of Free Minds Book Club and Writing Workshop, as well as the advisory board of Students for Sensible Drug Policy.
