Posted: December 14th, 2011 | by Yuval Sheer

On December 8, 2011, Honorable Judy Harris Kluger, Chief of Policy and Planning, New York State Courts in collaboration with the New York Foundling conducted an Adolescent Diversion Parts Judicial Training for New York State judges and staff.

The Adolescent Diversion Parts were established as part of Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman’s Juvenile Justice plan. On September 21, 2011, in a speech before the Citizens Crime Commission, the Chief Judge announced that “Cases involving nonviolent offenses will be steered to specially trained criminal court judges who both understand the legal and psychological issues involving troubled adolescents and are familiar with the broad range of age-appropriate services and interventions designed specifically to meet the needs and risks posed by these young people.”

During the training, Judge Corriero, in a presentation titled “Key Principles in Presiding Over an Adolescent Part”, emphasized that in order to be able to effectively work with youth, a judge must cultivate the ability to engage with young people, recognize and integrate the malleability and resiliency of adolescents in decision making, develop a reintegrative/restorative approach to dispositions, and recognize the redemptive quality of children.

Other presentations included a lecture about adolescent Brain Development by Professor Laurence Steinberg, Department of Psychology, Temple University; a lunch discussion with Hon. Fernando Camacho, Administrative Judge for Criminal Matters, 11th Judicial District and Honorable James Mcleod, Buffalo City Court, who shared their experience in presiding over cases of adolescents; and a panel discussion about evidence based practices and community alternatives with Dr. Sylvia Rowlands and Wendy Perlmutter of the New York Foundling, Robert M. Maccarone, Deputy Commissioner and Director, Office of Probation and Correctional Alternatives, DCJS, Raye Barbieri, Director of Implementation, Center for Court Innovation, and Jeff Smith, Principal Court Analyst, 8th Judicial District.

The Center wishes to thank the Hon. Judy Harris Kluger, Chief of Policy and Planning for the New York State Unified Court System, her Chief of Staff Bruna DiBiase, her Assistant Deputy Counsel Alison M. Hamanjian, and Bill Baccaglini, Executive Director of the New York Foundling for providing the Center with the opportunity to interact with the Adolescent Diversion Part Judges, and for all they are doing to improve justice for Children in New York.

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