AFJ Panel--COVID-19 Pandemic: An Opportunity to Reimagine Rehabilitation for Juvenile Offenders

Judge Michael A. Corriero

Michael A. Corriero served as a prosecutor in the office of Manhattan District Attorney Frank Hogan, a criminal defense attorney and as a judge for 28 years in the criminal courts of New York State.  For 16 years he presided over Manhattan’s Youth Part, a special court he created in the Supreme Court of New York State designed to focus attention and scarce resources on young offenders prosecuted as adults pursuant to New York State's Juvenile Offender Law.  Under Judge Corriero's leadership, the Youth Part became a model for mobilization and coordination of treatment and social services for children prosecuted in adult courts.  He retired from the bench in 2008 to become the Executive Director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City.

In 2010, after leaving Big Brothers Big Sisters, he established the New York Center for Juvenile Justice.  The Center promoted a comprehensive model of justice for minors that treats children as children and responds to their misconduct with strategies designed to improve their chances of becoming constructive members of society.   An important element of the Center’s advocacy resulted in the enactment of Raise the Age legislation by New York State in 2017. 

In 2012, Judge Corriero founded, along with the New York Foundling, one of New York’s oldest and respected social service agencies run by the Sisters of Charity, the Families Rising Project - an alternative to incarceration program.

Judge Corriero is an alumnus of St. John’s University School of Law and St. John’s University.  He was an associate editor of the Law Review.  He graduated from St. John’s University College with a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in social science.

Judge Corriero is the author of a book titled "Judging Children as Children: A Proposal for a Juvenile Justice System," which is a blueprint for juvenile justice reform.  He is regarded nationally and internationally as an expert in juvenile justice.  He has travelled extensively lecturing and advising legal institutions in numerous countries, including: Israel, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Kazakhstan and Peru.  He has earned numerous awards, including: The New York State Bar Association's Howard A. Levine Award for Excellence in Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare, and The American Bar Association's Livingston Hall Juvenile Justice Award.

Judge Corriero currently serves as a Judge on CBS Television’s syndicated court show Hot Bench. 

Elizabeth Glazer

Elizabeth Glazer is the Director of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice. In that role, she serves as the senior criminal justice policy advisor to the Mayor. Ms. Glazer oversees citywide criminal justice policy and develops and implements strategies across city agencies and partners to enhance public safety, reduce unnecessary incarceration, and increase fairness. Previously, Ms. Glazer served as the Deputy Secretary for Public Safety to NYS Governor Cuomo, where she was responsible for the oversight and management of eight state agencies, including Corrections, Parole, State Police and National Guard. Ms. Glazer has also held a variety of leadership positions at the local, state and federal levels, including the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York where she pioneered the use of the racketeering laws to address the violent gang problem. Ms. Glazer received her B.A. from Harvard University and her J.D. from Columbia Law School.  She clerked for then-US Circuit Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 

Hon. Edwina G. Mendelson

In 2017, Deputy Chief Administrative Judge Mendelson was appointed to head the newly expanded Office for Justice Initiatives, tasked with ensuring meaningful access to justice for all New Yorkers in civil, criminal and family courts, regardless of income, background, or special needs. To serve this mission, the Office for Justice Initiatives administers pro bono attorney and other volunteer programs, self-help services, Help Centers, and many other resources designed to serve unrepresented litigants. Additionally, Judge Mendelson directs several juvenile and family justice initiatives, including the Office of Court Administration’s Child Welfare Court Improvement Project, and the implementation of the seminal new law raising the age of criminal responsibility in New York State.   Judge Mendelson also remains active on the bench, conducting pro se trials in correctional facilities in her capacity as a Court of Claims judge, and serves in Supreme Criminal Term, NY County.  Previously, she presided over the Youth Part in New York County Supreme Court, hearing cases of youth charged as adults.   After representing clients in New York City Housing Court, Supreme Court and Family Court, Judge Mendelson joined the court system as a Court Attorney-Referee in Queens County Family Court. She later became a Family Court Judge in 2003, Queens County Supervising Family Court Judge in 2008, and a year later, was elevated to Administrative Judge of all New York City Family Courts.  Judge Mendelson, a graduate of CUNY Law School whose motto is “Law in the Service of Human Needs”, also holds a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice, and has been an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Hofstra Law School.  She maintains active membership and leadership positions in several bar association and court committees involving criminal, family and juvenile justice. 

Nancy Ginsburg

Nancy Ginsburg is the director of the Adolescent Intervention and Diversion Project in the Criminal Practice of the Legal Aid Society in New York City. The project represents adolescents, aged 13-18, who are prosecuted in the five counties of the adult court system, additionally providing advocacy to obtain foster care, mental health and educational services. Ms. Ginsburg has been with the Legal Aid Society for over twenty-five years as an attorney in the Juvenile Rights and Criminal Practices and has represented thousands of children and adolescents in criminal, juvenile delinquency, child protective, foster care, and educational administrative proceedings. She is responsible for supervising and training lawyers in the area of adolescent practice and educational advocacy throughout the five borough offices of the Criminal Practice of The Legal Aid Society. She was co-counsel in JG vs. Mills, a federal lawsuit addressing the school re-entry rights of court-involved youth. Ms. Ginsburg is responsible for legislative and policy issues concerning court-involved adolescents in the adult Criminal Court system. She testifies frequently before the New York City Council. She is a member of the New York State Raise the Age Implementation Task Force, the Mayor’s Leadership Team on School Climate and Discipline and was a member of the New York City School Justice Partnership Task Force, the New York City Council Gun Violence Task Force and the Task Force on the Future of Probation in New York State. She was the recipient of the Orison S. Marden Award and the New York State Defender Association Wilfred R. O’Connor Award.

Meg Reiss

In August 2018, Meg Reiss rejoined the Kings County District Attorney’s (Brooklyn, NY) as the Chief of Social Justice. This is a newly created position by District Attorney Eric Gonzalez. The primary objective of this role is to minimize the use of convictions and make jail and prison the exception rather than the default.  Pivoting from traditional responses, the goal is to create community-led networks to enhance safety and build community trust without relying on institutional programing or incarceration.

Prior to returning to the District Attorney’s office, Meg was the Executive Director of the Institute for Innovation in Prosecution where she worked with prosecutors and the communities they serve to consider a new paradigm of prosecution that measures success, not by convictions and plea outcomes, but by community centered standards of safety, equity, and wellness. With more than 20 years of legal and criminal justice policy experience, Meg has served as a senior trial and investigative attorney, administrative division chief, policy advocate, and political leader. Meg began her legal career in New York City as an assistant district attorney in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, finishing her tenure in the homicide bureau. Meg served as a deputy monitor on the Kroll team that supervised the Los Angeles Police Department’s compliance with their federal consent decree, overseeing the implementation of anti-discrimination, arrest, officer training, and community outreach policies and procedures. She later served in the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office as the Chief of Staff, where she was number two to the former District Attorney. While living in London, Meg advised on the Group Violence Intervention strategy that was implemented in three boroughs in London and led a team monitoring HSBC Holdings as part of their deferred prosecution agreement for violations of U.S. and U.K. laws involving money laundering and sanctions violations. Additionally, she sat on a five-member independent ethics panel overseeing the United Kingdom’s Metropolitan Police Service. 

Lucy Lang

Lucy Lang is Director of the Institute for Innovation in Prosecution at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, a think tank for prosecutors and communities across the United States. Lucy writes and speaks widely on prosecution and criminal legal reform and teaches those issues in New York State prisons. She previously served as an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan, where she investigated and prosecuted violent crimes including domestic violence and homicides, and served as Special Counsel for Policy and Projects and Executive Director of the Manhattan D.A. Academy, a resource for professionals working at the intersection of law and public  policy. Lucy is a graduate of Swarthmore College, where she serves on the Board of Managers, and Columbia Law School, where she was the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Gender and Law and where she now serves as a Lecturer-in-Law. Lucy was named a 2015 Rising  Star by the New York Law Journal, was a 2017 Presidential Leadership Scholar, was a 2019 Aspen Society Fellow, and is currently Vice Chair of the American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section, a member of the Prison Art + Aesthetics Project, and a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.  She has published in the New York Times, The Atlantic, the New York Daily News, and many others, and is the author of March On! a children's book about the 1915 women's march.

Gamal Willis

Gamal joined the AFJ team in October 2018, with an extensive background at CASES as a Job Developer, Director of Career Exploration, and Director of the Parole Restoration Project. He also brings relevant experience from his time at the Fortune Society. Gamal is responsible for managing a team of Court Advocates and ensuring effective outreach to new clients. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Washington and has completed the Criminal Justice Training Institute at CASES. Gamal is responsible for managing AFJ’s team of Court Advocates and ensuring effective outreach to new clients. During the COVID crisis, Gamal supervised moving programs online and adding job training with certification to continue services to over 300 youthful offenders under quarantine.