Judge Michael Corriero
Founder and Former Executive Director, New York Center for Juvenile Justice
The visionary Founder and former Executive Director of the New York Center for Juvenile Justice, a nonprofit that he founded to reform juvenile justice in New York State, Judge Michael Corriero is a passionate advocate against sex trafficking and for the mission of New York State’s Safe Harbor legislation—ensuring that commercially sexually exploited children are treated not as juvenile delinquents but as trafficking victims who need and deserve safety and support. As a New York State criminal-court judge, he presided for sixteen years over Manhattan’s Youth Part before retiring from the bench in 2008. Thereafter, he led Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City, and served as a judge on Hot Bench through it first eleven seasons.
“Teenagers who are victims of sex trafficking urgently need services and support, not criminalization. They need to be seen and treated not according to an ill-conceived adult criminal standard, but rather precisely for who they are—New York’s children.”