Meet the Board

 Michigan, USA

Like many people, Shawn Barrera-Leaf, a Michigan native, had no idea what it meant to have a loved one impacted by the criminal justice system. She had no clue of the need for reform, or that the United States is a global leader in mass incarceration, until August 2017 when Shawn’s son was convicted of a sex offense, a mistake that drastically changed his and her family’s life forever. The normal that was, was no more. It was then that Shawn became committed to justice reform work when she realized how dangerously unjust the criminal justice system is.

Seeking support, Shawn found Michigan Citizens for Justice, a support group for people convicted of a sex offense and their families. In this group many people traveled this journey and offered optimistic experiences, despite the draconian laws of our legal system. She learned what it takes to help people in this situation, providing judgement free environments, support and empathy. She gained hope that we can align our allies and change the current laws, bring awareness to the punitive punishment inherent with sex offense convictions and change the narrative from punishment to healing for offenders of sexual offenses and survivors. Shawn does not condone sexual abuse in any way and feels very strongly that a community voice is essential for the change we are striving for.

Her advocacy began with lobbying legislative leaders to reform the Michigan Sex Registry. Shawn became a Michigan ACLU Smart Justice Campaign member and provided live testimony during the Michigan Task Force Hearings to reform pretrial bail/bond issues. She met with Senators and Representatives in support of bills sponsored by the Task Force to reduce pre-trial incarceration and provided written testimony to the Judiciary Committee opposing the Michigan Sex Registry. Along with being the Executive Director of United Voices for Sex Offense Reform, she is working with Michigan Citizens for Justice in opposition of Life Long Electronic Device laws. She contributed to the ACLU Blog for Smart Justice holding prosecutors accountable for their role in today’s mass incarceration issues (see aclumich.org/en/news/holding-prosecutors-accountable), was interviewed by CBS addressing the exuberant phone expense associated with being detained in a county jail (cbsnews.com/news/why-are-jail-phone-calls-so-expensive/), and shared her son’s story as well as the upstart of United Voices for Sex Offense Reform on the “Outspoken Offender” podcast. She is a member of NARSOL (National Association for Rational Sexual Offense Laws), WAR (Women Against Registry), and attends monthly Caution Click meetings (National organization dedicated to promoting public safety through evidence based legislation, public awareness and prevention strategies).  

Facilitated by Shawn, United Voices for Sex Offense Reform began as a meeting of the minds with those impacted and exhausted from the inherent collateral damages from the justice system. Shawn identified the importance of bringing people together, to collaborate for change and second chances. The need for awareness and education of our criminal legal system and how it throws lives away while destroying families and communities is a headline ignored far too long. UV4SOR is committed to provide a platform that supports and challenges members to bring their actions more in line where they can confidently go forward as one united voice spreading the message for a Just and Fair legal system.

Illinois, USA

Jennifer Lee grew up in a small town in Illinois. She was the fourth of five children and was raised in a “normal” home.

She graduated from Western Illinois University with a BA in Political Science and eventually became an advocate for individuals with Intellectual Disabilities for more than twenty years. After she and her husband raised their four boys, she pursued her master’s degree in Legal Studies from Purdue University Global, focusing on family/disability law and legal research. During and after her education, she did not change her occupation to take advantage of her legal studies and often wondered “why did I waste my money on those legal degrees?”

That question was answered in a very rude fashion when her home was raided by several agents from local, state and federal agencies.  During the raid, they took one of her children away for questioning. This was when it all “clicked.” This is when she knew the purpose for the legal degrees that she previously thought to be useless.

She began to meet with US Senators to share her story and started making connections with other groups that were working on the same focus of judicial reform. She soon connected with other families that were facing similar issues. She started a focus group to work on judicial reform that eventually merged with United Voices for Sex Offense Reform.

She has been a member of a not-for-profit advisory board for more than ten years. Through this venture she has worked on organization of special events, promoting the program and networking with other non-profit groups to meet needs of special requests. She received an Illinois State Governor volunteer award for her volunteer duties with this program.

Jennifer continues to merge the knowledge from her degree programs with the experience of her advocacy work to become a voice for judicial change. She has continued to strengthen and use this voice to help others in similar circumstances as well.

She takes great pride in helping other families and letting them know that they are not alone in this nightmare involving sex offenses. Jennifer no longer questions the educational and employment choices she made earlier in her life; in fact, she embraces them and will continue to put them to good use in her life of advocacy.

Michigan, USA

Kathy has held roles in non-profit, para-church and secular organizations with positions granting her the opportunity to live in and experience the cultures and perspectives of different countries. These years instilled a love and passion for others and developed a deep respect and care for worldviews that are not inherently her own. Consistently Kathy found herself drawn to and responding to individuals and groups who survived painful experiences ranging a wide spectrum from political unrest, torture, and natural and man-made disasters to grief and loss due to everyday life changes.

The desire to walk alongside and bring validation to the experiences of other’s was a driving force for Kathy to focus her graduate studies on mental health.  Alongside her professional role as a mental health counselor and clinical supervisor she has also been a volunteer responding to local, regional, and state emergencies on state-level teams in the Midwest region. Her work has also included providing trainings for local churches and leaders internationally on critical emotional responses in the aftermath of small-scale, mass-casualty, and natural disasters .

Kathy’s life has been personally touched by her loved one being in the state and federal justice systems. Her advocacy focuses on using current research to make long-lasting, positive justice reforms and to educate for a compassionate understanding surrounding the stigmatized issue of sexual offenses.

Illinois, USA

Rita Betty is an Illinois/Indiana native who has been an advocate for the past four years. Rita was in shock when her son was arrested in 2019. Everything she thought she knew about the law and how the judicial system worked proved to be incorrect. Her world was turned upside down and still is.

Her mission is to help her son and others with support by trying to navigate through the criminal justice system. After hearing that her son was sentenced to 22 years, she decided to take a stand and do what is right. Rita is attempting to pave the way with UV4SOR by advocating for those with unjust sentences and registry restraints.

Her advocacy is balanced with being a professional business owner for the past 26 years. Her business interests range from grooming dogs to arts, craft and culinary experiences. Rita is a proud mother and grandmother. Her passion is to make a difference in her community and the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Indiana, USA

Betty Brand is a wife of 40 years, a mother of four and a retired LPN with fourteen years of professional experience and relationship building skills. She is compassionate, with exemplary communication skills. She currently enjoys teaching Pre-K to ages 2 years-5 year old children. Her most recent passion has been in advocacy where our justice system needs reform. Betty has developed a system of communication with those incarcerated, extending her empathy and financial help to them and to their families during a very difficult time.

After the incarceration of her son, she knew she had to learn to be more knowledgeable about our current justice system.  She was disappointed and overwhelmed with what she found so she began reaching out, only to find there wasn’t much being done for those who incurred a charge such as her son. After three years of research and writing letters to elected representatives and leaders, she began to understand the language used on various websites and was blessed to find United Voices for Sex Offense Reform. Betty looks forward to cooperating with the team to work towards better laws concerning these cases.

Colorado, USA

Sharon is a Colorado native, a small business owner, a wife, a mother, and a grandmother. Until her son was arrested in 2019, she had no prior knowledge of the severe laws for sexual offenses, or of our country’s judicial and prison systems. In the process of learning what these charges meant for her son and family, she began looking for support from others who are dealing with similar circumstances. Her extensive research revealed the glaring need for reform of federal laws and prisons. She then began finding avenues to assist others through support and advocacy groups.

Her goals to help her son and other families who are impacted by the U.S. criminal justice system include compassionate care to assist them in navigating the complicated laws and the emotional journey through the federal prison system, along with supportive outreach to those incarcerated. Giving and receiving support through this unexpected life journey has revealed to her the very real damage caused by mass incarceration, lack of mental health care, and continuing punitive punishment in our prisons.

Sharon is proud to be a part of the UV4SOR team to effectively advocate for reform of mandatory minimum laws, sentencing guidelines, and for judicial reform at the federal level in the courts and within the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Working together toward these goals gives her hope, that by speaking out, we can bring awareness and change societal views of sexual offenses and incarceration.

Distinguished Board Member

Virginia, USA

Bonnie Burkhardt is a software engineer and President of her company, Blue Ridge Software Consulting.  She has a Top-Secret security clearance and over 35 years of experience intercepting and analyzing signals for the Department of Defense.  In addition to writing software, she has worked as a network protocol engineer, system administrator, and intelligence analyst.  Because of her job duties, she has had over 100 classes on interception and privacy laws, taught by the Department of Defense.

Ms. Burkhardt has used her knowledge of these laws to expand her business into providing expert witness support to attorneys.  With two cases, she wrote amicus briefs as a pro se litigant and submitted the briefs to the Appellate Court.  These briefs formed the basis for her book, “Manufacturing Criminals – Fourth Amendment Decay in the Electronic Age.”  She presented seminars at the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers conference.

Ms. Burkhardt was born and raised in North Dakota and drove her dad’s combine during harvest season.  She has a BS in Applied Math and MS in Computer Science and Engineering.   She and her husband, Walter, moved to Virginia in 1989.  They have grown daughters who were born and raised in Virginia.  After becoming an empty nester, she became active in politics and advocating for Fourth Amendment rights.

Distinguished Board Member

Illinois, USA

Dr. Stephanie Jerstad is a professor of Criminology at Millersville University in PA.  Dr. Jerstad’s research focuses on corrections, barriers to re-entry, collateral consequences, and housing instability (i.e., homelessness, access to long-term care facilities).  Specifically, her research concentrates on macro- and micro-level policies with an emphasis on sexual offense policies.

Stephanie’s Ph.D. dissertation research at Southern Illinois University focused on the willingness of long-term care facilities to accept persons convicted of sexual offending into their care as residents.  The study examined state policy, state punitiveness, organizational characteristics, and attitudes and perceptions of long-term care facility administrators regarding policies that prevent them from admitting someone on the registry or with a prior sexual offense conviction.

Stephanie is very passionate when it comes to organizational policies and state laws which limit certain groups of people from accessing long-term care when everyone should have the right to receive long-term care, regardless of their criminal history, during their last days of life.

A forthcoming study is “A review of laws addressing access to long-term care facilities for people convicted of sex crimes: Prevention of harms in the context of public health goals”. (Jerstad, S., Levenson, Jill S.)