Jayden “JJ” Hernandez is a youth advocate and leader from Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of the More Than Words PIY Core Team. As a JUMP Leadership Accelerator Fellow in partnership with the Boston Celtics, he works at the intersection of lived experience and policy to drive real change for system-impacted youth.

Through his leadership with More Than Words, Jayden advocates for diversion, prevention, and second chances for young people involved in the justice system. He has spoken at the Massachusetts State House and collaborates with community and government leaders to push for policies that create pathways to opportunity, not punishment.

Today, he speaks in support of Raise the Age, bringing both lived experience and a commitment to ensuring that no young person is defined by their worst moment.

Detective Captain Lisa Butner began her Law Enforcement Career in 1983 as a Patrolman and Sensitive Crime Investigator for Harvard University Police Department. In 1987, Butner joined the Metropolitan Police Department where she worked as a Patrolman, Drug Unit Investigator, Undercover Officer, and Academy Instructor. Her department consolidated with the Massachusetts State Police in 1992, and she became a State Trooper assigned to Uniformed Patrol. In 1993, she became a Homicide Investigator with the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office. Butner was assigned to the Affirmative Action and Recruitment Unit in 2000. In 2003, she was promoted to the rank of Sergeant. She was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in 2012, responsible for overseeing four separate troops. In 2019, Butner was promoted to the rank of Detective Lieutenant and assigned as the Massachusetts State Police Cadet Program Coordinator. In this role she developed and implemented a Cadet Program aimed to increase diversity in the department.

In 2022, Butner joined the Tufts Police Department where she currently serves as Detective Captain in charge of Internal Affairs, Executive Protection and Security Details, and Title IX Investigations and Civil Rights Violations Investigations. Butner is the current President of the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE). She is also the President and Co-founder of the MSP One Blue.

Additionally, she is a member of the Massachusetts Association of Women in Law Enforcement (MAWLE), Massachusetts Latino Police Officers Association, the Benevolent Asian Jade Society of New England, and Latino Law Enforcement Group of Boston (LLEGO).

Duci is the Deputy Chief Counsel of the Youth Advocacy Division (YAD).  Driven by a passion to advocate for youth and challenge the inequities within the legal and educational systems, Duci has dedicated her professional career to being a public defender.  In her role as Deputy Chief Counsel, Duci provides leadership, training, support and oversight to 9 staff offices across Massachusetts and approximately 300 private attorneys accepting appointments for cases in juvenile court. Prior to becoming Deputy Chief Counsel, Duci was the Attorney in Charge of the YAD Quincy/Brockton Office for over ten years where she supervised attorneys and social workers while maintaining her own caseload.  From 2010-2011, Duci worked as a staff attorney at Suffolk University School of Law’s Juvenile Justice Center supervising law students representing youth in the Boston Juvenile Court and assisting in the teaching of the Juvenile Defender Clinical Class.

In 2008, Duci was selected as one of fifteen lawyers by the Boston Bar Association to participate in its 2008-2009 Public Interest Leadership Program, a program designed for lawyers who have demonstrated leadership in public service, pro bono and organized bar activities.  Duci is a recipient of the Massachusetts Bar Association’s 2012 Access to Justice Defender Award.  In 2019 she was appointed by Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker to the Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee, where she served as a member until 2023.  Duci has participated in numerous CPCS and MCLE trainings as a panelist lecturing in various criminal and juvenile law topics.  In addition to lecturing at trainings, Duci taught a seminar entitled “Racial Justice and Prosecutorial Metrics” at Northeastern University School of Law from 2020-2021.  She earned her B.S. in Rehabilitation and Human Services from Boston University and her J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law.

Naoka Carey is a Senior Advisor for the Emerging Adult Justice Project. In that capacity, she advises jurisdictions on ways to make juvenile and adult criminal systems more developmentally appropriate and effective, including providing training, data analysis, and technical assistance. She is currently an Acting Assistant Professor at NYU School of Law, where she teaches first-year law students and conducts research on the impact of state policies and neighborhood contexts on adolescent development. She has previously taught undergraduate classes in adolescent psychology and child development and worked as an attorney and advocate for children in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Dr. Carey has a PhD in Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology from the Lynch School of Education & Human Development at Boston College and a JD from New York University School of Law.