Professor Sherman is a Visiting Clinical Professor at Boston College Law School where she has been teaching Juvenile Justice for the past twenty years and where she founded and directs the Juvenile Rights Advocacy Project. She speaks and writes widely about the juvenile justice system and, in particular, about girls in the justice system. She has testified before Congress, served on the U.S. Department of Justice National Advisory Committee on Violence Against Women focusing on children and teens victimized by domestic violence and sexual assault, and was recently appointed to the Advisory Board of OJJDP’s National Girls Institute. She is the author of Detention Reform and Girls, a volume of the Pathways to Detention Reform series published by the Annie E. Casey Foundation (2005) and Making Detention Reform Work for Girls: Practice Guide #5 (forthcoming Annie E. Casey, 2012). Her most recent book, entitled Juvenile Justice: Advancing Research, Policy and Practice (Wiley & Sons), was published in September 2011 and her most recent article, Justice for Girls: Are we Making Progress? is forthcoming in the UCLA Law Review (Volume 59 (6), 2012). She is an ongoing consultant to the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative on strategies to reduce the detention of girls nationally, and regularly consults with national and local foundations and systems on issues related to girls in the justice system. Professor Sherman was the Principal Investigator of the Massachusetts Health Passport Project (MHPP) and is Co-Founder and President of the Board of Artistic Noise, Inc., with branches in New York and Boston; both are programs working with youth in the justice system.
Books and Reports
Making Detention Reform Work for Girls: A Guide to Juvenile Detention Reform (with Richard A. Mendel and Angela Irvine) (2013)
Throughout the nation, court-involved girls frequently pose minimal risk to public safety but suffer with...
Juvenile Justice: Advancing Research, Policy, and Practice (with Francine H. Jacobs) (2011)
This accessible, edited volume reflects the multiplisciplinary, multisectoral nature of juvenile justice, including chapters by...
Consent to Medical Treatment by Minors in Massachusetts: A Guide for Practitioners (2006)
This guide is designed for healthcare providers, social service agency employees, and other practitioners who...
Taking on the Challenge: Phase I of the Hyams Foundation Girls' Initiative (2006)
This report describes Phase I of The Hyams Foundation’s funding initiative for eight programs providing...
Detention Reform and Girls: Challenges and Solutions: JDAI Pathways to Juvenile Detention Reform #13 (2005)
This report is part of the Annie E. Casey Foundation Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI)...
Articles
Justice for Girls: Are We Making Progress?, UCLA Law Review (2012)
Over the course of more than a century, structural gender bias has been a remarkably...
Reframing the Response: Girls in the Juvenile Justice System and Domestic Violence, Juvenile and Family Justice Today (2009)
This article provides an overview of the role gender plays in juvenile justice processing. It...
Access to Community Healthcare for Youth in the Juvenile Justice System: Initial Lessons From the Massachusetts Health Passport Project, Women, Girls and Criminal Justice (2007)
From 2004-2010, the author directed the Massachusetts Health Passport Project (MHPP), aimed at facilitating continuous...
When Individual Differences Demand Equal Treatment: An Equal Rights Approach to the Special Needs of Girls in the Juvenile Justice System (with Marsha L. Levick), Wisconsin Women's Law Journal (2003)
This article argues that disparities girls face in the juvenile justice system can be remedied...
Contributions to Books
Children's Rights and Relationships: A Legal Framework (with Hon. Jay Blitzman), Juvenile Justice: Advancing Research, Policy, and Practice (2011)
This chapter provides an overview of United States children’s law, framed both in terms of...
The Role of Gender in Youth Systems: Grace's Story (with Jessica H. Greenstone), Juvenile Justice: Advancing Research, Policy, and Practice (2011)
This chapter —written from a legal and developmental perspective —describes the experiences of ‘‘Grace,’’ a...
The System Response to the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Girls (with Lisa Goldblatt Grace), Juvenile Justice: Advancing Research, Policy, and Practice (2011)
This chapter, which is written from the perspectives of law, public health, and social work,...
Promoting Justice for Girls in an Unjust System, Women and Girls in the Criminal Justice System, Policy Issues and Practice Strategies (2006)
Contributor, Justice by Gender: The Lack of Appropriate Prevention, Diversion, and Treatment Alternatives for Girls in the Justice System (2001)
Selected Professional Activities
Panelist, Stop the Pipeline to Prison: Create Educational Opportunities, Jobs and Wealth, Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Metropolitan AME Church organizations (2012)
Advisory Board Member, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention National Girls Institute (2012-present) (2012)
Visiting Lecturer, Renmin University Law School, Comparative Law Program (2012)
Selected Presentations
Moderator, Youth in Prison: The Reality of the System, The Arts and Social Responsibility Project, Boston College (2013)
On April 30, 2013, Professor Sherman served as the moderator for the Youth in Prison:...
Partcipant, Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative Inter-site Conference (2013)
Professor Sherman participated in two workshops, Reducing Disparities at the Intersection of Gender, Race and...
Speaker, Workshop Organizer, Moderator and Presenter, Annie E. Casey Foundation Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative Annual Conference (2013)
Professor Sherman has served as a Speaker, Workshop Organizer, Moderator, and Presenter for a range...