Nikki Baszynski joined OJPC’s Columbus office and Second Chance Project in 2022.
Nikki previously served as a managing editor for The Appeal, a nonprofit news organization dedicated to exposing the harms of the U.S. criminal legal system. Prior to The Appeal, Nikki was senior legal counsel at The Justice Collaborative, a national policy and media organization that worked in partnership with organizers, elected officials, academics, and reporters to help local communities understand the policies, practices, and people responsible for mass incarceration.
Nikki began her legal career as the Greif Fellow in Juvenile Human Trafficking and then joined the Ohio Public Defender’s Appeals and Postconviction Department. While at OPD, Nikki founded the office’s Racial Justice Initiative, an agency-based team focused on identifying racially discriminatory practices and collaborating across departments to address them. Her work in the initiative centered around the criminalization of poverty and municipal court reform.
Nikki is also an adjunct professor at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, where she has taught courses on appellate advocacy and reimagining public safety. She received her B.A. from Loyola University Chicago, and her J.D. from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.