Dena T. Sacco is a Senior Researcher with the Youth and Media Project,
currently focusing on policy issues related to the research on teens,
parents and privacy that the Berkman Center is conducting in connection
with the Pew Research Center. Dena’s past youth and media work includes coordinating and editing the Kinder and Braver World Research Series,
participating in the Youth and Media Policy Working Group Initiative,
and co-directing the Internet Safety Technical Task Force. Dena’s
publications with these projects include “An Overview of State
Anti-bullying and Other Relevant Laws,” “Sexting: Legal and Practical
issues,” and “Enhancing Child Safety and Online Technologies: Final
Report of the Internet Safety Technical Task Force.”
From 2007-2012, Dena was an Assistant Director and Clinical Instructor
in the Berkman Center’s Cyberlaw Clinic, where she focused on child
exploitation and youth online safety issues. She has been a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School for several years, co-teaching the seminar
“Child Exploitation, Pornography & the Internet” as well as teaching in the Graduate and First Year Legal Research and Writing programs.
From 1999-2005, Dena was an Assistant United States Attorney in Boston, where she had primary responsibility for child exploitation cases in the District of Massachusetts. From 1997-1999, she was a Counsel in the Office of Policy Development at the United States Department of Justice in Washington, DC. Prior to working for the federal government, Dena was an associate in the employment and labor law department of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker in Washington, DC. Dena received her B.A., cum laude, from Yale College in 1990, her J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1993, and an LL.M. in European Union law from the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium in 1994.
