Duci Goncalves and Lael Chester: How Massachusetts is Re-imaging how the Criminal Legal System Treats Emerging Adults

Jun 11

Today, Hunter sat down with Duci Goncalves and Lael Chester to discuss how Massachusetts has started to reimagine how the criminal legal system treats emerging adults. As most of us remember, we didn’t always make the best choices as children, and that questionable decision making didn’t just improve the moment we turned 18. Yet in the criminal legal system, 18 is treated as a magic number where suddenly we assume you are a fully developed adult. With new brain science, we understand that 18 is not some magic number, and those between the ages of 18-25 still have a developing brain. To adhere to our understanding of modern brain science, Massachusetts is setting out on a new path to how the legal system handles emerging adult offenders.

Guests:

Duci Goncalves, Deputy Chief Counsel, Youth Advocacy Division, Committee For Public Counsel Services, Massachusetts

Lael Chester, Director, Emerging Adult Justice Project, Columbia University Justice Lab

Resources:

Lael’s Faculty Page

https://justicelab.columbia.edu/people/lael-chester

Massachusetts Changes LWOP for Emerging Adults

https://www.bostonpoliticalreview.org/post/mass-supreme-court-raises-life-without-parole-sentencing-from-18-to-21#:~:text=January%2015%2C%202024%2C%20marked%20a,sent%20waves%20throughout%20the%20nation.

Commonwealth v Robinson

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/ma-supreme-judicial-court/115703587.html

Commonwealth v Mattis

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/ma-supreme-judicial-court/115703895.html