Mary G. Leary
Associate Professor
202-319-6612
Associate Professor
202-319-6612
Professor Leary is an associate professor of law at The Catholic University of America. She is the former deputy director and policy consultant for the Office of Legal Counsel at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), and the former director of the National Center for the Prosecution of Child Abuse (NCPCA). Prior to this work in the nonprofit sector, Professor Leary was a prosecutor focusing on crimes against women and children.
Before joining academia, Professor Leary worked primarily on issues addressing the exploitation of children and women, child pornography, child prostitution, computer facilitated crimes against children, and the investigation and prosecution of family violence cases. As both a state and federal prosecutor, Professor Leary focused on family violence and sexual assault, but successfully prosecuted at the trial and appellate levels, an array of criminal cases. She is a former Assistant U.S. Attorney and served as deputy chief of the Domestic Violence Unit for the Middlesex County District Attorney's Office in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Leary also served as an assistant district attorney in the Family Violence and Sexual Assault Unit of the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office. Professor Leary clerked for the Hon. Sue L. Robinson in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.
Professor Leary's scholarship examines the intersection of contemporary social problems, technology, criminal law, and criminal procedure. She focuses on areas of exploitation and abuse of women, children, and “vulnerable peoples.” Her publications include, but are not limited to:
- Katz on a Hot Tin Roof: Saving the Fourth Amendment from Commercial Conditioning, American Criminal Law Review (forthcoming, Spring 2012).
- The Missed Opportunity of United States v. Jones – Commercial Conditioning in a Post Google-Earth World, University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law, Vol. 15, No. 1 (2012)
- New Frontier in Debate Over Child Pornography Sentencing? Judicial Challenges to Mandatory Minimum Sentences, Sex Offender Law Report, Vol. 13, No. 1 (2011)
- Reasonable Expectations of Privacy for Youth in a Digital Age, Mississippi Law Review, Vol. 80, No. 3 (2011)
- Sexting or Self - Produced Child Pornography? The Dialogue Continues - Structured Prosecutorial Discretion within a Multidisciplinary Response, University of Virginia Journal of Social Policy and the Law, Vol. 17 (2010)
- Mulieris Dignitatem: An Exploration of Dignity in a Protected Speech Paradigm, Ave Maria Law Review, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Spring 2010)
- Death to Child Erotica, Cardozo Journal of Law and Gender, Vol. 16, No. 1 (2009)
- Kennedy v. Louisiana: A Chapter of Subtle Changes in the Supreme Court's Book on the Death Penalty, Federal Sentencing Reporter, Vol. 21, No. 2 (2008)
- Self-Produced Child Pornography: The Appropriate Legal and Societal Response to Juvenile Self Exploitation, University of Virginia Journal of Social Policy and the Law, Vol. 15, No. 1 (2008)
- The Role of The Intimate Partner Violence Professional in Criminal Prosecutions, Intimate Partner Violence: Resource for Professionals Working With Children and Families, G.W. Medical Publishing (2010) (Book Chapter)
Her current work in progress includes a comprehensive review of the role of technology in child sex trafficking cases since the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. She is also working on a book chapter regarding technology’s effect on child sexual exploitation for Oxford University Press.
Professor Leary plays an active role in policy development on a number of issues regarding both exploitation and technology. Professor Leary served as the head of delegation for the Holy See at the III World Congress Against the Exploitation of Children and Adolescents. She has addressed audiences both nationally and internationally including, but not limited to, at the World Congress in Brazil, The University of Virginia, University of Mississippi, Syracuse University, The University of Leeds (England), The International Soceity for the Reform of Criminal Law; The Department of Justice's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, The Child Abuse Group of the Pediatric Academic Society, the CBI Academy in Delhi, India, The National Association of Attorneys General, and numerous other audiences. Professor Leary has been a lecturer for NCMEC, the National Law Center for Children and Families, the National Advocacy Center, National Judicial College, The National Center for Justice and the Rule of Law, and the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children. She has served as a member of several advisory boards and was an original member of the National Coalition for the Prevention of Child Sexual Exploitation.
Professor Leary is a sought after commentator for numerous media outlets and has provided commentary to platforms including, but not limited to the New York Times, C-Span National Journal, National Public Radio, The Legal Times, Wall Street Journal Online, Gannet Newspapers, Politifact, and CNET News.
She is the 2011-12 recipient of the Award for Teaching Excellence in Early Career from The Catholic University of America. In 2010 and 2011 the graduating classes selected professor Leary as their Faculty Marshall. In 2009, the students of Catholic University's law school named Professor Leary Teacher of the Year. She is also the recipient of the Mary, Mirror of Justice Award (2009).
She received her B.A. with honors from Georgetown University and earned her J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center.