Steven W. Hawkins (born July 10, 1962) is an American social justice leader and litigator who currently serves as president and CEO of the US Cannabis Council.[1] He previously served as executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project and as executive director of Amnesty International USA.[2][3] Prior to these roles, he served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Program Officer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He also held position as executive director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, as senior program manager at Justice, Equality, Human Dignity and Tolerance Foundation, and as program executive at Atlantic Philanthropies and as an attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Hawkins is known for bringing litigation that led to the release of three teenagers wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death row in Tennessee.