In Roper v. Simmons (2005), the U.S. Supreme Court barred the death penalty for crimes committed under 18, grounding its reasoning in developmental science.

Yet Jones v. Mississippi (2021) upheld discretionary life without parole, leaving states to decide how science should inform sentencing. In the wake of Jones, courts across the country are reexamining whether these protections should extend to “emerging adults.”

This presentation explores how neuroscience is reshaping state sentencing laws and includes reflections from an individual incarcerated at 20 and released under Commonwealth v. Mattis.

Panelists

• Moderator: Stephanie Tabashneck, PsyD, JD, Senior Fellow of Law and Applied Neuroscience, Center for Law Brain and Behavior at Massachusetts General Hospital and Petrie-Flom Center at Harvard Law School; Licensed Psychologist and Attorney; and Director, CLBB Neurolaw Library
• Ernest “Nate” Benjamin released from prison in August 2025 after 30+ years of incarceration. He is currently a student at Tufts University in the Tufts Education and Reentry Network program (MyTern). Nate has many years of experience speaking with at-risk youth and training men to facilitate groups in gang prevention, violence reduction, and victim empathy.
• Andrew Charroux is a Senior Research Associate at the Center for Law, Brain & Behavior at Massachusetts General Hospital supporting the development of the CLBB NeuroLaw Library, an open access database providing actionable neuroscience resources to be used in the judicial system. As a Keasbey Scholar, he earned his M.Phil. in History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine from the University of Cambridge.

Co-sponsored by the Petrie-Flom Center and the Center for Law, Brain and Behavior at Massachusetts General Hospital.