Dismantling carceral systems, advancing restorative values.
The Liberation Lab is a research collective based at the University of Minnesota that brings together faculty, students, and community partners to address systemic inequities through participatory, community-engaged scholarship. Our work focuses on dismantling carceral systems and advancing restorative, healing-centered approaches—particularly within education, social services, and youth-serving systems.
Grounded in principles of abolitionist social work, critical race theory, and non-extractive research, we prioritize projects that:
Center the leadership of those most impacted by harm.
Center community knowledge.
Seek to transform the conditions that lead to punishment and exclusion.
We are deeply committed to ensuring that our research is not only methodologically sound, but also accountable to communities, accessible to restorative justice practitioners, and useful for informing policy and practice.
Powered by Dr. Ceema Samimi and Dr. Kara Beckman
Dr. Ceema Samimi (they/them) is a restorative and transformative justice practitioner, abolitionist, and academic focused on how societal structures and systems impact the power of young people. Ceema’s research is broadly grounded in the idea of youth power - young people’s ability to shape the communities and world they live in. Ceema is a mixed-race first generation scholar and parent of two cats and one dog.
Kara Beckman, MA (she/her) is an applied researcher at the University of Minnesota Medical School’s Center for Healthy Youth Development. Kara’s first evaluation on the impact of community-led restorative justice began in 2008, and her work now seeks to integrate lessons learned from the fields of systems change, restorative practices and developmental science. She also spends time exercising her restorative impulse in community, enjoying family, watching youth soccer, and cheering for the Minnesota Lynx and Aurora.
Ceema and Kara are thrilled to be at this new collaborative stage in their journey. After Ceema's arrival at the UMN in fall 2020, their partnership centered on getting acquainted and building relationship. It became clear early on they both share a deep belief in the power of youth and communities. The Liberation Lab idea was born at the same time as they were ideating about the projects that turned into the Mapping for Liberation project and the 2025 Restorative Practices in Minnesota project and report. Making the Lab a reality solidifies a commitment to community-partnered work that focuses on real-world impact.