When the Science Says Children But the Law Says Adults: Trying and Sentencing Youth as Adults

Event Description
All 50 states have transfer laws that either allow or require children to be prosecuted in adult criminal court for certain offenses. Attorney Marsha Levick, Esq. provided an overview of the transfer law legal landscape and potential legal challenges to transfer laws. Neuroscientist BJ Casey, Ph.D. spoke about the science of adolescence and explore whether there is a neuroscientific basis for transfer laws as an effective deterrent to delinquency and consistent with rehabilitation. Stephanie Tabashneck, PsyD, JD then led a discussion on the role science can play in challenges to transfer laws.
Panelists
- Introduction: Carmel Shachar, Executive Director, Petrie-Flom Center
- BJ Casey, Ph.D. Christina L. Williams Professor of Neuroscience, Department of Neuroscience and Behavior, Barnard College, Columbia University and The Justice Collaboratory, Yale Law School
- Marsha Levick, J.D., Chief Legal Officer and Co-Founder, Juvenile Law Center and Adjunct Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School
This event is part of the Project on Law and Applied Neuroscience, a collaboration between the Center for Law, Brain and Behavior at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School with support from the Oswald DeN. Cammann Fund at Harvard University.