By Chris Caesar
law briefs
previously served on the faculty at Northeastern University School of Law, where she taught legal research and writing and supervised students in year-long social justice projects. Her scholarship focuses on inclusivity in the legal writing classroom and legal reforms relating to juvenile justice and clemency.
“In the Commonwealth, the Supreme Judicial Court is considering a potential extension to the Diatchenko ban on juvenile life without parole sentences up through age 20. Massachusetts, like many other states, currently defines ‘juvenile’ as under the age of 18—yet, this bright line is not necessarily supported by neuroscience when it comes to how our brains develop. Does recent research support an extension of the age, similar to those in some other states? I will be studying the emerging data and will continue to watch the SJC to see how this issue plays out.”
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Photography by Michael J. Clarke
winter 2024
Legal Practice Skills Professor Stevie Leahy
Rethinking the Definition of ‘Juvenile’
previously served as a professor at the University of Dayton School of Law, visiting assistant professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, and assistant professor of international economic law at Maastricht University. His research focuses on the interaction of IP law, especially patent law, with the rights of Indigenous peoples and climate change law.
“Even a cursory look at the data on greenhouse gas emissions reductions, compared to where we need to be, can drop you into a black hole of despair. The sheer inability of our national and global politics to face the very real fact of climate change and the changes we need to make can be infuriating. The scale of the challenge can push those of us who work on these issues daily even further into a kind of nihilism or a kind of extremism. And yet, the truth is that optimism is the central driving emotion for all of us who work on climate change. It is faith—in humanity, in our technological ingenuity, in our ability to build community—that makes the work possible. Climate change activism works best when we can communicate not just the challenge but also our faith that people are capable of doing this.”
Intellectual Property Professor Dalindyebo Shabalala
On Climate Doom and Despair
Photographs by Michael J. Clarke