Greg is excited to build upon the successes of the Drug Court and Veterans Court to develop and establish an Emerging Adults Court in Norfolk County, which would help young people 18-24 years old charged with non-violent offenses avoid a criminal conviction. It would connect those young adults to the supports and resources they need to avoid incarceration and be able to continue their education, find work, secure housing, and become valuable members of society.

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It is time for the law to catch up with the science. 

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Advances in neuroscience have found that the brains of teens and emerging adults are not the same as the brains of adults. There is less impulse control, greater susceptibility to peer influence, less emotional regulation, less risk-reward insight and, most importantly, a much greater capacity to change. This is the case not just until age 16 or 18, which places an offender into the less punitive, more therapeutic juvenile justice system, but often into early adulthood.

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At the extreme end of criminal behavior, the courts have taken this into account. In 2012, the US Supreme court ruled that it is cruel and unusual punishment to sentence juvenile murderers to life without parole nationally. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court extended that age to 20 in 2024.

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At the lesser extreme of the criminal justice continuum, it means addressing the forces that drive some non-violent criminal activity by emerging adults. This can be more effectively done by giving those young offenders supports and tools, rather than incarcerating them and giving them a criminal record that will impact their employment, education, and housing prospects for the rest of their lives.

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As Chief of District Court prosecution under then-Norfolk DA Bill Keating, Greg was able to expand and refine the office’s juvenile diversion program using some of the same underlying philosophy, treatment, and scaffolding for youth.

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The only Emerging Adults Court in Massachusetts is currently in Western Massachusetts. Working with the trial court, probation, and members of the defense bar, Greg will expand upon their model to bring an Emerging Adults Court to Norfolk County – creating a new path to accountability and stability for qualifying non-violent offenders aged 18 to 24, helping them build promising futures and reducing their likelihood of repeating criminal behavior.

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