Laura Cohen

Laura Cohen is a Professor of Law, the Justice Virginia Long Scholar, and Director of both the Criminal and Youth Justice Clinic (CYJC) and the New Jersey Innocence Project at Rutgers Law School.  The CYJC’s mission of providing post-conviction legal representation to clients incarcerated as adolescents in matters ranging from conditions of confinement and actual innocence to parole and executive clemency is unique among the nation’s law school clinics. The clinic’s advocacy has led to exonerations and early release of scores of clients over the past two decades. Laura also founded and directs the Rutgers Center on Criminal Justice, Youth Rights, and Race.

In 2020, Laura served as the International Legal Foundation’s inaugural UNICEF Juvenile Justice Fellow in Myanmar, where she worked with local lawyers to build a system of youth defense. From 2013-2017, she was the due process consultant to the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division in its investigation of systemic constitutional violations in the St. Louis County, Missouri Juvenile Court. Laura frequently appears as and on behalf of amicus curiae in matters concerning youth and criminal justice issues before the New Jersey Supreme Court, the Appellate Division, and the federal courts.

Prior to joining the Rutgers faculty, Laura was the Director of Training for the New York City Legal Aid Society’s Juvenile Rights Division, where she oversaw the attorney training program and public policy initiatives relating to child welfare and juvenile justice. She also has served as Deputy Court Monitor for the U.S. District Court, District of Puerto Rico in Morales Feliciano v. Hernandez Colon, a federal class action challenging conditions of confinement in Puerto Rico’s prisons; Senior Policy Analyst for the Violence Institute of New Jersey; and staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society’s Juvenile Rights Division in the Bronx.  

Laura is the recipient of numerous awards for her work, including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s “Champion for Change” award; the National Juvenile Defender Center’s Robert E. Shepherd Award for Excellence in Juvenile Defense; and the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey’s Legal Leadership Award. Her scholarship explores topics ranging from juvenile justice and parole to legal ethics and lawyering theory, with a particular focus on the legal representation of adolescents.  

Laura earned her B.A. summa cum laude from Rutgers College, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and her J.D. from Columbia Law School, where she was Managing Editor of the Columbia Human Rights Law Review.

Publications

• Law Reviews
  • The Anti-Racist Imperative of Infancy, Northwestern Journal of Law and Social Policy (2024).
  • Barriers to Innocence: Identifying, Investigating, and Undoing Wrongful Convictions, Rutgers Law Review
    (2024)
  • Forward – Prosecutors, Power, and Justice: Building an Anti-Racist Prosecutorial System, Rutgers Law Review (2021)
  • Incarcerated Youth and COVID-19: Notes from the Field, 73 RUTGERS L. REV. 1475 (2021)
  • The Critical Role of Post-Disposition Representation in Addressing the Needs of Incarcerated Youth, 48 John Marshall Law journal 311 (2015)(with Sandra Simkins)
  • Extend the Guiding Hand: Incarcerated Youth, Law School Clinics, and Expanding Access to Counsel, 17 University of Pennsylvania Journal of Law Social Change 410 (2014)
  • Freedom’s Road: Youth, Parole, and the Promise of Miller v. Alabama and Graham v. Florida, 35 Cardozo Law Review 1031 (2013)
  • Kids Will Be Kids: Interviewing and Counseling Adolescent Clients, 79 Temple Law Review 357 (2006)(with Randi Mandelbaum)
  • Introduction: When the Law is Guilty: Confronting the Crisis of Mass Incarceration, 66 Rutgers Law Review 841 (2014)
  • Introduction: Righting the Wronged: Causes, Effects, and Remedies of Juvenile Wrongful Conviction, 62 Rutgers Law  Review 879 (2010)
• Books
  • Rights, Race, and Reform: 50 Years of Child Advocacy in the Juvenile Justice System (Routledge, 2018) (Kristin Henning, Laura Cohen, and Ellen Marrus, co-editors)
  • The Gault Case and Young People’s Rights: Debating Supreme Court Decisions (2006)
  • “I Want In: The Story of a Life Redeemed,” in Frank Askin, You Can Tell It to the Judge . . . True Tales of Law School Lawyering (2009)
• Professional Journals
  • Reforming the Juvenile Justice System, New Jersey Lawyer 42 (October 2015)
  • Lost in the Labyrinth: Children with Disabilities and the Juvenile Justice System, Common Ground (New Jersey Council on Developmental Disabilities, November 4, 2013), available at http://www.njcommonground.org/lost-in-the-labyrinth-children-with-disabilities-and-the-juvenile-justice-system/
  • New Hope Found in Practice Standards, ABA Criminal Justice Magazine (Winter 2009)
• Recent Opinion Pieces
  • "N.J. Is Making Progress, But Youth Need More Help to Stay Out of Prison’s Web", www.nj.com (February 17,
    2022) (with Emilie Stewart)
  • "Excessive Punishment for Kids Who Use Marijuana Is Not the Answer", www.nj.com (February 21, 2021)
  • “The Shifting Winds of Juvenile Justice,” Newark Star-Ledger (August 16, 2015)
  • “The Heartbreaking, Preventable Death of Kalief Browder,” Newark Star-Ledger (June 14, 2015)(with Alexander Shalom)
  • “Think Twice Before Trying Young Offenders as Adults,” Newark Star-Ledger (September 16, 2012)
  • “Why the Judge Got it Right in Dharun Ravi’s Sentencing,” Newark Star-Ledger (May 27, 2012)(with John J. Farmer, Jr.)

Media Appearances/Speaking Engagements:

• Global Alliance for Justice Education, Warsaw, Poland, “Legal Representation of Children” (July 2025) – invited panelist
• National Innocence Network Conference, Seattle, WA, “’ Voluntary’ Confessions of Youth” (April 2025) – invited panelist
• The Gault Center National Youth Defense Leadership Summit, Denver, CO, “The Power of Disruption” (October 2024) – invited plenary speaker
• International Academy of Law and Mental Health XXXVIII Congress, Barcelona, Spain, “Killing the Spirit of Children & Adolescents ~ Wrongful Convictions in Jails and Prisons” (forthcoming, July 2024) – invited panelist
• National Innocence Network Conference, New Orleans, LA, “Youth, Race, and Wrongful Convictions” (March 2024) – invited panelist
• Seton Hall Law Journal of Legislation and Public Policy Symposium, Newark, N.J., “An Innocence-Centered View of New Jersey’s Post-Conviction Jurisprudence” (forthcoming, March 2024) – invited panelist
• The Gault Center, National Youth Defender Summit, Charlotte, N.C., “Lessons from the Innocence Movement for Youth Defenders” and “Working Collaboratively with Youth” (October 2023) - workshop facilitator
• Rutgers Law Review Annual Symposium, “Barriers to Innocence: Identifying, Investigating, and Undoing Wrongful Convictions” (March 2023) – convener and moderator
• The Gault Center, National Youth Defender Summit, San Juan, P.R., “Dobbs and Youth: What Lies Ahead” (October 2022) - keynote
• International Academy of Law and Mental Health XXXVII^thCongress, Lyon, France, “Legal Liability Issues Consequent to Trauma Experienced by Youth in Foster Care, School, and Juvenile Facilities” (July 2022) - invited panelist
• Global Alliance for Justice Education Worldwide Online Conference on Global Clinical Legal Education, "From Crisis Lawyering to Client-Centered System Change Advocacy: Representing Incarcerated Young People During the Covid-19 Pandemic" (June 17, 2021) - lead presenter
• Rutgers Law Review Annual Symposium, “Prosecutors, Power, and Racial Injustice: Building an Anti-Racist Prosecutorial System” (Rutgers Law Review annual symposium; four sessions between February - April 2021) - convener and moderator
• Northwestern-Pritzker Law School International Human Rights Clinic, guest lecture on youth justice in Myanmar (March 3, 2021)
• Rutgers IPE, "Post-Conviction Review, "Cold Cases," and Investigative Genealogy" (April 22, 2021) - panelist
• Essex County Bar Foundation, "The 21st-Century Prosecutor: Focus on Equity," (February 23, 2021) – panelist
• New Jim Crow Coalition of Mercer County (program on race and youth justice - February 2, 2021) – invited keynote
• National Youth Registration State Strategy Session (grant-funded, selective convening of teams from six states focusing on removing youth from sex offender registries; four sessions in September and October 2020)- convener and presenter
• Selected television and radio appearances include: WNYC Radio (“Kids in Prison,” October 2016); “Due Process” (“Falsely Imprisoned: The McCallum Case,” 2015); WNJN (commenting on New juvenile life without parole, January 2013). Numerous other appearances on CNN, Court TV, Fox News Channel, “Due Process,” Tokyo Broadcasting System and TV Asahi (Japan), and various local news outlets as commentator on juvenile justice, criminal law, and child welfare matters

Previous Organizations

• Violence Institute of New Jersey, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey,
• New York Law School
• The Legal Aid Society

Awards and Accomplishments

• John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Champion of Change Award 
• National Juvenile Defender Center, Robert E. Shepherd Leadership Award 
• ACLU of New Jersey Legal Leader Award 
• “Extraordinary Woman Award,” 24/7 World Impact Community Church, Newark
• Student-Elected Faculty Commencement Speaker, Rutgers School of Law-Newark 
• Rutgers-Camden Chancellor’s Award for Diversity, Inclusion, and Civic Engagement