Olivia Ensign

Olivia Ensign is the Senior Advocate and Researcher at Human Rights Watch's US Program, with a focus on the criminal legal system and systemic inequality. In this role she employs a multi-faceted approach of collaboration, public education, and fact-finding to move the needle towards the protection of human rights in the United States at the federal and state levels. 

Prior to joining Human Rights Watch, Olivia was a Staff Attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union’s Capital Punishment Project where she represented clients in capital proceedings at the trial, direct appeal, and post-conviction levels across the southern United States and engaged in systemic efforts aimed at the abolition of the death penalty.

Olivia holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Peace and Conflict Studies from Swarthmore College and received her law degree from New York University School of Law where she was a Root-Tilden-Kern Public Interest Scholar and Institute for International Law and Justice Scholar.