Elizabeth Scott
Faculty Affiliate, Bioethics; Harold R. Medina Professor of Law, Columbia Law School
Elizabeth S. Scott is the Harold R. Medina Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. Scott teaches family law, property, criminal law, and children and the law. She has written extensively on marriage, divorce, cohabitation, child custody, adolescent decision-making, and juvenile delinquency. Her research is interdisciplinary, applying behavioral economics, social science research, and developmental theory to family/juvenile law and policy issues.
She was the founder and co-director of the University of Virginia's Interdisciplinary Center for Children, Families and the Law. She also held a professorship at the university and served as legal director of the university’s Forensic Psychiatry Clinic, Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy.
From 1995 to 2006, Scott was involved in empirical research on adolescents in the justice system as a member of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice.
In 2008, she published Rethinking Juvenile Justice with developmental psychologist Laurence Steinberg. The book draws on their collaborative work to offer a developmental framework for juvenile justice policy.
Scott received her J.D. from the University of Virginia in 1977 and a B.A. from the College of William & Mary in 1967.
Education
- J.D., University of Virginia School of Law, 1977
- B.A., College of William & Mary, 1967