Our Team
The Emerging Adult Justice project at the Columbia Justice Lab is led by Lael Chester. Our team engages with scholars, policymakers, directly-impacted individuals, and students in projects related to emerging adult justice. Click here to learn about the Justice Lab Director, Bruce Western, and other staff and fellows.
Lael Chester
Director, Emerging Adult Justice Project
Lael Elizabeth Hiam Chester is Director of the Emerging Adult Justice Project at Columbia University’s Justice Lab and leads the national and international research on Emerging Adult Justice. Lael is an attorney who has focused her career on juvenile, criminal and civil rights law and policy. After graduating from Barnard College and Harvard Law School, she was the Albert Martin Sacks Clinical Fellow at the Criminal Justice Institute at Harvard and then joined the Civil Rights Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office. For 12 years, she served as Executive Director of Citizens for Juvenile Justice (CfJJ), a statewide non-profit dedicated to improving the juvenile justice system. Lael led the successful Justice for Kids Campaign, ending the practice in Massachusetts of automatically prosecuting and sentencing all 17 year olds as adults, regardless of the severity of the offense. Her expertise on other advocacy campaigns include school-to-prison pipeline, parent-child privilege, racial disparities and over-use of secure confinement.
Jaclyn Davis
Postdoctoral Research Scholar
Jaclyn is a Postdoctoral Research Scholar working on the Emerging Adults Justice Project, Probation and Parole Reform Project, and the Neighborhood Justice Project at the Columbia Justice Lab. Across these initiatives she combines administrative, survey, and spatial data to identify trends and racial inequalities in policing, incarceration, and supervision throughout the United States. Prior to joining the Justice Lab Jaclyn completed a Ph.D. in Political Science at Columbia University. Her research is primarily interested in understanding the different ways that local justice systems such as courts, police, or informal norms take shape over time, and the ways that these systems perpetuate or alleviate inequalities. She uses archival research, semi-structured interviews, survey experiments, and administrative records to generate new datasets and novel measures in pursuit of developing more equitable and resilient justice policies. More information on Jaclyn's work can be found at her website, www.jaclyndavis.com.
Selen Siringil Perker
Associate Director
Selen Siringil Perker is the Associate Director of the Emerging Adult Project at the Justice Lab. Her work aims to bridge academic research on emerging/young adult justice with policy and practice at all stages, from research design to implementation and dissemination. As an international attorney and justice reform specialist, she works closely with government officials, justice leaders and international organizations, including the World Bank and UNDP, to assist local efforts to measure and drive criminal justice reform in the United States and abroad. Previously, Selen was a Research Fellow with the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management at Harvard Kennedy School for the Indicators for Development: Safety and Justice project. She holds an LL.M. degree from Harvard Law School, and a Master’s in International and European Law from the University of Paris I (Panthéon – Sorbonne). Contact Selen for more information on her work and publications.
Maya Sussman
Senior Manager
Maya Sussman is the Senior Manager of the Emerging Adult Project at the Columbia University Justice Lab. In this role, she conducts and helps disseminate law and policy research regarding 18- to 25-year-olds in the juvenile and criminal legal systems in an effort to reform system practices. Maya has conducted analyses of juvenile justice system practices to support a corrections expert’s testimony in lawsuits challenging the unjust treatment of juveniles in state correctional facilities. Maya holds a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School and is admitted to practice in New York. Prior to attending law school, Maya worked with girls in a non-secure placement facility in Queens, New York. Maya received her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts from New York University.
