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Cayden Brown is a 19-year-old American child-rights defender and emerging legal historian whose work has been featured in Forbes and TIME, with ABC News describing him as “the world’s most influential juvenile justice advocate.”
At age sixteen, Brown was appointed as a Juvenile Defender for Oakland County’s Teen Court, where he worked alongside judges and attorneys to reroute youth from the traditional criminal process and disrupt cycles of youth recidivism. His current scholarship examines the exclusion of youth from participating in the legal institutions that govern their lives. This research grounds his leadership as the Executive Director of The Trespass Project, a global team of pro-bono attorneys and advocates making legal information accessible to young people worldwide.
Brown earned his first formal legal credential from Harvard Law School, where he studied the historical interplay of race and constitutional law during America’s post-slavery, Reconstruction era. He has served on over a dozen national advisory boards, shaping child-rights research and policy. His leadership has placed him in dialogue with several world leaders at the United Nations, the U.S. Department of Justice, as a legal rights trainer for civil rights icon Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp, and recently as a guest lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Brown’s work has earned recognition from former U.S. President Joseph Biden with the Educational Achievement Award (2021); a Special Tribute from the 103rd Michigan Legislature—signed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer—and nomination for the International Children’s Peace Prize.
Among the many unprecedented accolades he has received for his work, Cayden has captured national attention with major media appearances. He has been featured in Forbes and TIME, interviewed by ABC News and NBC News, and has made several guest appearances on nationally syndicated programs, including The Amanda Seales Show on Urban One and iHeartRadio. In print, Cayden has graced the cover of The Michigan Chronicle, The Official Black Magazine, SEEN Magazine, and been profiled in Black Enterprise. At just sixteen years old, he earned recognition among the Top 100 National Black Lawyers, and his story went viral on Twitter when he made history as the first honoree in Outlier Media’s Changemakers Spotlight.
Cayden Brown has made history protecting youth at the highest levels worldwide, all while being a youth himself. Ultimately, Cayden is a proud Black man of faith who believes that “legal literacy equals liberation”. You can follow him on social media @TheCaydenBrown on Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin & TikTok. He resides in the Detroit Metropolitan area with his family and fellow kin in movement.
