Naoka Carey
Assistant Teaching Professor
Education
Harvard University Graduate School of Education, EdM 1999
New York University School of Law, JD 2002
Lynch School of Education and Human Development, Boston College, PhD 2025
Bio
Naoka Carey is an interdisciplinary scholar interested in the ways that social welfare and criminal legal policies can promote or undermine healthy development or reduce systemic inequities for children and families. Her current legal and empirical work focuses on the impact of U.S. mass incarceration on children and communities. In addition to her role as an Assistant Teaching Professor at Northeastern Law, she serves as a Senior Advisor with the Emerging Adult Justice Project. Her scholarship has been published or is forthcoming in multiple empirical and legal journals, including Cornell Law Review, NYU Review of Law & Social Change, JAMA Network Open, Pediatrics, Journal of Adolescent Health, and Social Science & Medicine.
Prior to her current role, Dr. Carey was an Acting Assistant Professor of Lawyering at NYU School of Law. She has a Ph.D. in Applied Developmental & Educational Psychology from the Lynch School of Education & Human Development at Boston College, a J.D. from NYU Law School, and a Master’s in Education and A.B. from Harvard University. She has worked as an attorney and policy advocate at Citizens for Juvenile Justice (Executive Director) and the CPCS Youth Advocacy Division (Policy Attorney), as a senior litigation associate at K&L Gates, and as a law clerk for the Hon. Warren J. Ferguson, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Fields of Expertise
- Child Welfare
- Criminal Law
- Drug Law and Policy
- Family Law
- Juvenile Courts
- Law and Inequality
- Legal Education
- Legal Research and Writing
- Poverty Law
- Social Welfare Law
Selected Works
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- “Challenging Multigenerational Punishment,” 111 Cornell Law Review 3 (2026)
- “Children’s Exposure To Recent Family Member Criminal Legal System Involvement,” 9 JAMA Network Open e2612183 (May 12, 2026) (co-author)
- “Rental Assistance, Housing Insecurity, & Well-Being: Spillover Effects of Emergency Rental Assistance During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” 389 Social Science and Medicine 118795 (2026) (co-author)
- “Did Emergency Rental Assistance Support Housing Stability During the COVID-19 Pandemic? Differential Effects Across Risk Strata,” 102 Journal of Urban Health 958 (2025) (co-author)
- “Associations Between Tobacco 21 and State Flavour Restrictions With Young Adult Tobacco Use,” should be 34 Tobacco Control 571 (2025) (co-author)
- “A Review of the Landscape of State Tobacco 21 Laws: Key Components, Research Challenges, and Future Directions,” 12 Drug and Alcohol Dependence Reports 100236 (2024) (co-author)
- “Racial Inequities in Educational Opportunity: Variation Across Socioeconomic Status,” Race and Social Problems (April 30, 2024) (co-author)
- “Recreational Cannabis Legalization, Retail Sales, and Adolescent Substance Use Through 2021,” 178 JAMA Pediatrics 622 (2024) (April 15, 2024) (co-author)
- “Emerging Adult Mental Health During COVID: Exploring Relationships Between Discrete and Cumulative Individual and Contextual Stressors and Well-Being,” 75 Journal of Adolescent Health 26 (2024) (co-author)
- “Translating Developmental Science to Policy and Practice.,” APA Handbook of Adolescent and Young Adult Development, ed. Lisa J. Crockett, Gustavo Carlo and John E. Schulenberg (American Psychological Association, 705–719 (2023) (co-author)
- “COVID-19 Vaccinations and Mental Health Among u.s. Adults: Individual and Spillover Effects,” 329 Social Science and Medicine 116027 (July 2023) (co-author)
- “Shelter From the Storm: State Eviction Moratoria, Implementation Context, and Eviction Filings During the First Two Years of the COVID-19 Pandemic,” Housing Policy Debate 33, no. 6 (2023) (co-author)
- “COVID-19-Related Stressors and Mental Health Disorders Among US Adults,” Public Health Reports 137, no. 6 (2022) (co-author)
- “Prevalence of Adolescent Handgun Carriage: 2002–2019,” Pediatrics 149, no. 5 (2022) (co-author)
- “Recreational Marijuana Legalization and Adolescent Use of Marijuana, Tobacco, and Alcohol,” Journal of Adolescent Health 69 (2020) (co-author)
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- “Translating Developmental Science to Policy and Practice.” In APA Handbook of Adolescent and Young Adult Development, ed. L.J. Crockett, G. Carlo and J.E. Schulenberg (American Psychological Association, 2023) (co-author).
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- “One in Seven Children Has a Recently Arrested Relative, Study Finds,” The Imprint (July 6, 2026)
