Major findings in developmental neuroscience over the past couple of decades have shed new light on our understanding of adolescence. In particular, the prefrontal cortex part of the teen brain, which controls executive function and its connectivity with the limbic system, is still developing through late adolescence and into young adulthood.
Members of the Case Western Reserve University community are invited to a talk by Laurence Steinberg, an expert in adolescent development, to learn how these developmental characteristics of adolescence make teens different from and less culpable than adults in the criminal justice system.
Steinberg will present “How Teen Brain Research Shaped and Continues to Impact Juvenile Justice Reform” Thursday, March 21, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in Tinkham Veale University, Ballroom A.
In this talk, Steinberg will explore how this research has led to transformative change in the U.S. legal system and juvenile justice policy over the past 20 years, as well as implications for future youth justice reform efforts.
Discussants Amy L. Ast, director of the Ohio Department of Youth Services, and Brooke Burns, chief counsel at Youth Defense Department at Office of the Ohio Public Defender, will join Steinberg.
The Schubert Center for Child Studies will host this event.