David Karp is a professor and director of the Center for Restorative Justice in the School of Leadership and Education Sciences at the University of San Diego. His current scholarship focuses on restorative justice in community and educational settings. For his work on campus restorative justice, he was the recipient of the 2019 Leadership and Innovation Award from the National Association of Community and Restorative Justice as well as the 2011 Donald D. Gehring Award from the Association for Student Conduct Administration.

David has published more than one hundred academic papers and six books, including The Little Book of Restorative Justice for Colleges and Universities, Wounds That Do Not Bind: Victim-Based Perspectives on the Death Penalty and The Community Justice Ideal.

David serves on the Board of Directors for the National Association for Community and Restorative Justice. He is also a member of the planning team for the Restorative Justice Network of Catholic Campuses. He has previously served as Associate Dean of Student Affairs and Professor of Sociology at Skidmore College.

David received a BA in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of California at Berkeley, and a PhD in Sociology from the University of Washington.