Jenny Johnson

Jenny Johnson is an independent consultant working at the intersection of mental health and criminal justice. For nearly two decades, she was a trial attorney at the San Francisco Public Defender’s office where she specialized in representing clients with serious mental illness. She is a founder of San Francisco’s Behavioral Health Court, and for more than 15 years, she was the lead attorney assigned to the court. Since 2012, she has been a lecturer at Berkeley Law, where she co-teaches a seminal in mental health and the law with forensic neuropsychiatrist Dr. George Woods. Johnson has helped shape mental health policy in her role as senior consultant for SAMSHA GAINS Center for Behavioral Health and Justice. She is currently writing a memoir about her last homicide case.