Karen Sheu

Karen Sheu is a Master of Religion and Public Life (MRPL) candidate at Harvard Divinity School, where she is studying the theology of accountability, restorative justice, and the role of religion in shaping alternatives to incarceration. Her core work focuses on the application of restorative justice to clergy-perpetrated sexual abuse and other harms in religious contexts. 

As a social worker and public policy professional from Southern California by way of New York City and Washington, D.C, Karen believes that building a world free from violence will require a willingness from our institutions to offer a pathway out of shame, through the steps of accountability, for those who cause harm. This belief led her to spend six years researching the impact of restorative justice practices and the parallels between restorative justice principles and religious teachings on justice and repentance. 

Prior to Harvard Divinity School, Karen was a research assistant at the National Center on Restorative Justice, where she helped build a database of every restorative justice law and policy in the United States. She has also worked on policy development at The States Project and for Members of Congress in California and New York. Karen graduated with a Master in Social Work from Columbia University, where her studies focused on spiritual trauma as well as state and federal policy. She is also a graduate of the University of California, Irvine and Vermont Law and Graduate School’s restorative justice certificate program.

As a Cheng Fellow, Karen aims to develop resources to help religious leaders build safe, accountable faith institutions and equip them to respond to harm in their communities in restorative and survivor-centered ways.