Casey Gwinn
Casey Gwinn, Esq. serves as the President of Alliance for HOPE International
Casey has been recognized by The American Lawyer magazine as one of the top 45 public lawyers in America. He is an honors graduate of Stanford University and UCLA School of Law. Casey served for eight years as the elected City Attorney of San Diego from 1996 to 2004. Prior to entering elected office, Casey founded the City Attorney’s Child Abuse and Domestic Violence Unit, leading the Unit from 1986 to 1996 – prosecuting both misdemeanor and felony cases. The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges honored his specialized prosecution unit as the model prosecution unit in the nation in 1993.
San Diego Family Justice Center
In 2002, Casey saw his vision of a comprehensive Center for services to victims of family violence become a reality in San Diego as he led the effort to open the nationally acclaimed San Diego Family Justice Center with professionals from 25 agencies together under one roof. His leadership has been widely credited for the 90% drop in domestic violence homicides in the City of San Diego. In October 2003, President George W. Bush announced a national initiative to begin creating Family Justice Centers across the country and asked Casey to provide leadership to the effort. Today, Casey and his team support more than 130 open and developing Family Justice Centers in the U.S. and around the world.
He is also an expert in the handling of near-fatal strangulation assaults.
Profiled nationally
Casey has served on the U.S. Attorney General’s National Advisory Committee on Violence Against Women and the American Bar Association Commission on Domestic Violence. He chaired the California Attorney General’s Task Force on Domestic Violence and also served on the congressionally created Department of Defense Task Force, studying the handling of family violence throughout the Department of Defense. His work has been profiled nationally on the Oprah Winfrey Show, CBS The Early Show, USA Today, The Huffington Post, New Yorker Magazine and a host of other news outlets.
Books and articles
He has authored and co-authored a host of articles and media commentaries along with nine books on domestic violence and the Family Justice Center movement. The first book entitled “Hope for Hurting Families” calls for the creation of Family Justice Centers across America to help hurting and violent families. His second book, co-authored with Gael Strack, was released in April 2007, “Hope for Hurting Families II: How to Start a Family Justice Center in Your Community. Casey’s fourth book, “Dream Big: A Simple, Complicated Idea to Stop Family Violence” was published in 2010. All ten of his books are available at www.familyjusticecenter.org or www.allianceforhope.com.
Cheering For the Children
Casey’s most recent book, “Cheering For the Children: Creating Pathways to HOPE for Children Exposed to Trauma” is a clarion call to all caring people to become cheerleaders for children exposed to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). In the book, Casey explains why childhood trauma should be the preeminent public health issue in America today and how we can all help change the lives of children for the better. This book was the result of one of Casey’s great personal passions, Camp HOPE America, the unique camping initiative he founded at the San Diego Family Justice Center that is now expanding across the nation. Camp HOPE America is the first specialized camp in the country focused exclusively on children exposed to domestic violence and child abuse.
Casey and his wife, Beth, have three grown children: Kelly; Karianne, and Chris. Casey is a proud grandfather of three grandchildren – Kayden, Evan, and Claire.