Marian Miner Cook
Athenaeum

A distinctive
feature of social and
cultural life at CMC

 

Changing Juvenile Justice in California Prisons

Thu, February 19, 2026
Lunch Program
Sean Kennedy

Every day, young people enter into California’s criminal justice system. Some are caught up in gang affiliations, others simply in areas of high police surveillance. But often the particularities of their social contexts are entirely ignored after being arrested. Sean Kennedy, executive eirector of the Center for Juvenile Law & Policy at Loyola Law School, works with social forensics teams to bring specific community context information to trial in order to help judges and juries better understand the young people sitting before them in court. Kennedy will explain how the criminal justice system operates for young offenders, and what can be done to address legal inequities for youth from marginalized communities.

(Photo credit: Loyola Law School)

Sean Kennedy is the executive director of the Center for Juvenile Law & Policy at Loyola Law School. For the past 15 years, he has taught appellate advocacy and the death penalty law seminar at the Law School. In 2013, Kennedy was named Criminal Defense Attorney of the Year by the Los Angeles County Bar Association and received the Fidler Institute Award for Defense Lawyer of the Year from Loyola. He is a recipient of the Public Interest Award by Loyola’s Public Interest Law Foundation. Prior to working in public defense, Kennedy was an associate at Talcott, Lightfoot, Vandevelde, Woehrle & Sadowsky, LLP, where he handled white collar criminal defense cases.

Professor Kennedy’s Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by the history department at CMC.

(Photo credit: Loyola Law School)

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Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum

Claremont McKenna College
385 E. Eighth Street
Claremont, CA 91711