January 2022
Bridging justice between childhood and adulthood
Happy 2022 to all!
Upcoming Webinar:
Neuroscience and Criminal Law: The Post-Jones Landscape for Late Adolescents and Emerging Adults

February 9, 12:30pm EST

The U.S. Supreme Court landmark case of Roper v. Simmons (2005) barring execution for crimes committed prior to age 18 launched a line of cases extending Eighth Amendment protections for juveniles. An April 2021 SCOTUS decision in Jones v. Mississippi appears to signal a shift from federal constitutional cases to litigation and legislation among the states. This panel will highlight the debate about how science should inform criminal law and policy, and will provide a survey of current cases and legislation focused on creating developmentally aligned frameworks for responding to misconduct by younger adults (ages 18 – 20) and emerging adults (21 – 25), including “raising the age” of full criminal culpability past age 18. The contributions of neuroscience to informing a developmentally aligned jurisprudence for late adolescents and emerging adults will be reviewed.

Panelists:
  • Introduction: Carmel Shachar, Executive Director, Petrie-Flom Center
  • Honorable Jay Blitzman (ret.), CLBB Affiliated Faculty
  • Lael Chester, JD, Director of the EAJP
  • Stephanie Tabashneck, PsyD, JD, Senior Fellow in Law and Applied Neuroscience, CLBB and the Petrie-Flom Center
Recent Publications

EAJP Learning Community member Jamie Fader and her colleague Dijonée Talley reflect on respect as a necessary element of justice contact for emerging adults. They examine the developmental role of respect in supporting healthy transitions to adulthood, the ways in which typical justice system operations undermine positive outcomes by building disrespect into the process, and highlight some innovative justice programs that are respect-centered. Finally, the potential positive impacts of integrating bidirectional respect into points of contact with justice-involved emerging adults are considered.

EAJP Research Assistant, Rachel Barkin, presents research showing that the development of cognitive reasoning is more complex than previously understood. Decision-making is executed through two independent neural pathways, often referred to as “hot and cold cognition,” and these pathways develop at separate rates during the life course. This research supports adopting more developmentally appropriate responses to system-involved emerging adults.
International Perspectives
World Congress on Justice with Children
November 15 - 20, 2021
Bringing together international policymakers, legal practitioners, academics, and civil society representatives committed to addressing current issues relating to children in contact and conflict with the law, the 2021 World Congress sought to explore best practices, foster scientific cooperation, and raise awareness on child-friendly justice. EAJP Director, Lael Chester, participated in one of its workshops, sharing strategies and research that led to reforms in three states - Vermont, Massachusetts, and Illinois - working to create a toolkit for advocates and academics to encourage further research and advocacy to advance children’s rights.
German Youth Justice Conference
September 17 - 21, 2021
Lael Chester presented a discussion on "Youth Justice: Recent Developments in the U.S.A." Germany remains an important model for the United States, as the specialized youth court has jurisdiction over youth between the ages of 14 to 21. For more information, please see Sibella Matthews, Vincent Schiraldi & Lael Chester (2018): Youth Justice in Europe: Experience of Germany, the Netherlands, and Croatia in Providing Developmentally Appropriate Responses to Emerging Adults in the Criminal Justice System, Justice Evaluation Journal.
In memory of Damon Thibodeau
At the age of 22, Damon Thibodeau was sentenced for a crime that he didn't commit. After 15 years on death row at Angola Prison in Louisiana, in solitary confinement, he was exonerated in 2010. He became an advocate of justice reform and died of COVID-19 in September of this year. Lael Chester and EAJP Graduate Research Assistant, Bonnie Siegler, co-wrote this opinion piece in USA Today.
Great Reads
Medical treatments for substance use disorders are slated for all New York jails and prisons (JJIE)
Emerging adults need a justice system guided by facts (Imprint)
A new law scheduled to take effect in 2022 will require all state and local facilities to establish programs for the use of medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for substance use disorders. EAJP Senior Researcher, Selen Siringil Perker, is quoted for her remarks on the potential for MAT programming within carceral spaces to lower rates of addiction relapse and criminal recidivism.
Too often justice policy decisions are driven by a gut instinct to punish. Lael Chester highlights longterm outcomes of incarceration on emerging adults as the worst of any age cohort, suggesting that many states can accomplish this by expanding the youth justice system, while others could create a hybrid system melding key characteristics of the youth system with the adult system.
Introducing our newest EAJP team members!


Rita Gonzalez

Rita is a Research Assistant on the Emerging Adult Justice Project and a second year master’s student pursuing her MSW at Columbia University School of Social Work. She is a Harlem native and graduate of Barnard College, where she earned a degree in American Studies with a focus on Race & Ethnicity.


Soraya Shri-Pathman

Soraya has been working at the Justice Lab for a couple of years and is excited to begin this new role as joint Research Coordinator for the team's Emerging Adult Justice and Probation and Parole Reform Projects. Soraya holds a MSc in Global Population Health from the London School of Economics & Political Science, and a BFA in Critical and Cultural Practices from Emily Carr University of Art + Design.