Oren Root has been affiliated with Vera or its spin-off organizations since 1992. From 1997 to 2000 he was national director of Vera’s Appearance Assistance Program, a successful pilot alternative to detention program for immigrants facing deportation. From 2001 to 2007 he was deputy director of the Police Assessment Resource Center (PARC), which fosters police accountability and civilian oversight of law enforcement. He previously served as interim director of Vera’s Bureau of Justice Assistance in South Africa and as director of the Court Employment Project, an alternative to incarceration program for young felony offenders run by the Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services (CASES). Prior to that, Oren was a criminal defense lawyer in New York for 18 years. He is a graduate of Columbia College and Fordham Law School.