Kacey Mordecai, JD

The United States is the only jurisdiction in the world that sentences children to life without the possibility of parole (LWOP) and Pennsylvania has more inmates serving juvenile LWOP sentences than any other jurisdiction.  Kacey’s project will help build the case for the application of international human rights law in American courts to ensure greater protections for children in the juvenile justice system.  Focusing on international treaties, covenants and conventions that apply most directly to issues that arise in juvenile justice, Kacey and the Juvenile Law Center (JLC) seeks to integrate human rights principles into its legal advocacy. 

In the past decade, international law has played an increasing role in constitutional analysis, with a growing number of Supreme Court Justices acknowledging its import and its use by legal scholars to interpret the U.S. Constitution.  Although the Supreme Court has increasingly relied upon international human rights law as a standard, particularly in the Eighth Amendment context (which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment), its principles are still not fully embedded in domestic law. 

Few legal resources exist to help apply international law arguments to juvenile laws.  To help fill the void in resources, Kacey will develop a briefing book that will identify applicable case law, provide, relevant arguments that have been used, and highlight where these arguments have been successful.  The briefing book will guide JLC attorneys in their legal work and inform the work of other law practitioners and juvenile justice reform advocates nationally.

A graduate of Georgetown University’s Law School, Kacey’s previous experience includes internships at the Jamaican Council for Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and other human rights organizations.  She brings a unique combination of both international and domestic law experience, having also conducted research on the juvenile justice system and drafted a protocol for juvenile defenders at the Juvenile Justice Clinic at Georgetown.  She also participated in Georgetown’s Street Law Clinic where she taught high school students basic law.