CLBB Faculty Member Nancy Gertner‘s decision on a 1999 federal lawsuit was recently cited by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in a ruling against the Federal Aviation Administration. The ruling held that an air traffic controller, who is accusing the FAA of discrimination based on his sexual orientation, could pursue a complaint under Title VII, which bars discrimination on the basis of factors including race, color, religion, sex, and origin. The ruling stated, “We conclude that sexual orientation is inherently a ‘sex-based consideration,’ and an allegation of discrimination based on sexual orientation is necessarily an allegation of sex discrimination under Title VII.” This ruling took a decision by Judge Gertner as precedent, where in 2002, she denied Postal Service’s bid to throw out a lawsuit on the grounds that Title VII did not explicitly mention sexual orientation. She wrote:

In fact, stereotypes about homosexuality are directly related to our stereotypes about the proper roles of men and women. The harasser may discriminate against an openly gay co-worker, or a co-worker that he perceives to be gay, whether effeminate or not, because he thinks, ‘real’ men should date women, and not other men.

Read the full piece from The Boston Globe, “Federal Commission Cites Mass. Lawsuit in Sexual Orientation Case“, by Travis Andersen, published July 21, 2015.

CLBB Co-Director Dr. Edersheim appeared on an episode of The Checkup, a health podcast by WBUR and Slate. In an episode entitled “Teenage Zombies”, Dr. Edersheim offers insight into how adolescent brain structure and developmental changes influence decision-making and behavior. She discusses how these changes intersect with the legal system, and raises important questions about how the juvenile justice system affects healthy neurodevelopment. Listen to her commentary, shortly after the 15:20 minute mark:

Listen to the full episode of The Checkup here.

CLBB Advisory Board Member, U.S. Representative Katherine Clark, was featured by WBUR for her efforts to combat cyber abuse and protect women from online harassment. Although she is Massachusetts’ newest member of Congress, Rep. Clark has already become a leading figure on Capitol Hill in the fight against online harassment, by pressuring the Department of Justice and FBI to pay greater attention to this issue and by filing a bill that would devote greater resources to investigating Internet threats. From the story:

“If somebody in your office said, ‘I know you’re gonna be in the parking lot at 5 p.m., and I’m going to be there and I’m going to murder you,’ and, ‘Here, I’m going to send you a video of the knife that I’m going to use,’ we would be all over that,” Clark said. The congresswoman says we ought to take threats made through the Internet just as seriously.

“We’re not asking for the FBI or the federal government to come in and police the Internet,” Clark said. “We’re just saying, ‘Investigate these cases and enforce the good laws that we already have on the books.’”

Listen to WBUR’s radio broadcast, and read the accompanying article by Asma Khalid, published July 8, 2015, here.

CLBB faculty member Nancy Gertner was featured in The Atlantic for her remarks on the Drug War at the 2015 Aspen Ideas Festival. Speaking from her 17 years of experience as a federal judge, Gertner likened the damage done by the drug war to the destruction of cities in World War II. From the article:

Among 500 sanctions that [Gertner] handed down, “80 percent I believe were unfair and disproportionate,” she said. “I left the bench in 2011 to join the Harvard faculty to write about those stories––to write about how it came to pass that I was obliged to sentence people to terms that, frankly, made no sense under any philosophy.”

“This is a war that I saw destroy lives,” she said. “It eliminated a generation of African American men, covered our racism in ostensibly neutral guidelines and mandatory minimums… and created an intergenerational problem––although I wasn’t on the bench long enough to see this, we know that the sons and daughters of the people we sentenced are in trouble, and are in trouble with the criminal justice system.”

Read the full piece from The Atlantic, “Federal Judge: My Drug War Sentences were ‘Unfair and Disproportionate,'” by Conor Friedersdorf, published June 29, 2015.

Congratulations to CLBB Faculty and Juvenile Justice working group member Leah Somerville, who has been awarded an NSF CAREER award for her work on Psychological and Neurodevelopmental Mechanisms of Social Influence on Adolescent Decision-Making.

Dr. Somerville is Assistant Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and Director of the Affective Neuroscience & Development Lab. The CAREER award is the National Science Foundation’s most prestigious award to support junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations. Such activities should build a firm foundation for a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research.