Kristen Staley

Kristen Staley is the Executive Director of the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission (MIDC), an autonomous agency housed within the Michigan’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. She supports 19 appointed commissioners and leads a dedicated team responsible for developing, implementing, and enforcing statewide standards on the delivery of public defense services. Kristen ensures the Commission’s work is appropriately resourced, meets all statutory and constitutional mandates, and is effective in improving and promoting best practices in public defense.

Outside of her work with the MIDC, Kristen has a decades long background in public policy development, advocacy, and technical assistance focused specifically on youth and adult justice initiatives at the federal, state and local systems. As Deputy Director for the Michigan Council on Crime and Delinquency, she helped increase resources and technical assistance for evidence-based programming among Michigan’s courts; led public policy initiatives to limit the adultification of youth in Michigan’s legal system; and spearheaded legislative and grassroots campaigns to safely reduce reliance on incarceration. Kristen is an appointed Commissioner on the Michigan Supreme Court’s Justice for All Commission, was a member of the Gault Center’s national advisory board and consults as a peer reviewer for the U.S. Office of Justice Programs. She also worked as a legal advocate in the Vermont Legal Aid’s Health Care Ombudsman Office, was an appellate clerk with the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy’s Juvenile Post-Disposition Unit and is an experienced facilitator of restorative justice panels. Kristen received her B.A. from American University and J.D. from the University of Louisville.