On March 7th , guests gathered in the Burlingame Pacifica Institute to hear David Onek, Adjunct Professor at UC Hastings Law School and Lecturer at UC Berkeley Law School, speak on Criminal Justice Reform in California. Marwa Cayli, the event announcer, gave guests a warm welcome. A delicious dinner of authentic Turkish Cuisine was served followed by an invigorating serving of deserts and tea.
David Onek is an Adjunct Professor at UC Hastings Law School and a Lecturer at UC Berkeley Law School. He previously served as a Commissioner on the San Francisco Police Commission where he set policy for the Police Department and oversaw the police discipline process. Prior to that, Onek led numerous policy initiatives as Deputy Director of the Criminal Justice Office for San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. Onek was a candidate for San Francisco District Attorney in 2011, running on a strong criminal justice reform platform and finishing second to the incumbent.
Onek came to UC Berkeley Law School as the Founding Executive Director of the Berkeley Center for Criminal Justice (now part of the Earl Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy). There he brought law enforcement and community together to build partnerships in support of innovative, research-based, policy reforms. David Onek currently hosts the Criminal Justice Conversations Podcast, a co-production of the Berkeley Law School and the Berkeley School of Journalism, which features in-depth, thirty-minute interviews with a wide range of criminal justice leaders.
Earlier in his career, Onek worked at the W. Haywood Burns Institute, Legal Services for Children, the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, and Walden House. He is a graduate of Stanford Law School and Brown University. Onek is the author of numerous juvenile and criminal justice book chapters, articles, and reports. He lives in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood with his wife Kara Dukakis and daughters Olivia and Nora.
