Corriero, Michael A.

PERSONAL:

Education: Graduated from St. John's University, 1964, and St. John's University School of Law, 1967.

ADDRESSES:

Office—State of New York, Supreme Court, First Judicial District, Criminal Term, 100 Centre St., New York, NY 10013-4386; fax: 212-401-9116.

CAREER:

Lawyer and judge. Schiffmacher, Rochford, & Cullen, Esquires, NY, associate, 1967-68; legislative assistant to a State Assemblyman, NY, 1968-69; Society of European Songwriters, Authors, and Composers, assistant general counsel, 1968-69; New York County Government, assistant district attorney, 1969-73; independent lawyer, 1973-80; Pace University, NY, adjunct professor, 1976-94; City of New York Criminal Court, judge, 1980-89, acting Supreme Court justice, 1983; New York State Supreme Court, justice, 1989-90; New York State Court of Claims, 1990—. Big Brothers, Big Sisters of New York (trustee); Citizen's for Children (member of advisory committee); Professional Committee of ELEM (Youth at Risk in Israel); Transfiguration Grammar School Education Association (board member).

MEMBER:

Association of the Bar of the City of New York Committee on Juvenile Justice (chairperson), New York State Bar Association Committee on Children and the Law, American Bar Association's Criminal Justice Section.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Charles A. Rapallo Award, Colombian Lawyers Association, 1994; Conrad B. Mattox, Jr. Commonwealth Debate Winner, University of Richmond, 1996; Outstanding Service on Behalf of Youth Award, ELEM, 1996; Livingston Hall Juvenile Justice Award, American Bar Association, 1997; Howard A. Levine Award, New York State Bar Association, 1999, for outstanding work in the area of children and the law.

WRITINGS:

Judging Children as Children: A Proposal for a Juvenile Justice System, Temple University Press (Philadelphia, PA), 2006.

Contributor to periodicals, including New York Law School Journal of Human Rights.

SIDELIGHTS:

Michael A. Corriero began his career in law in 1968 as an associate with Schiffmacher, Rochford, & Cullen, Esquires in New York and remained in the state to practice law. He has worked for state assemblymen, lectured at universities, and provided general counsel for the Society of European Songwriters, Authors, and Composers. In 1989 he was briefly appointed as an interim justice on the New York Supreme Court and moved to the Court of Claims a few months later. Since 1992, Corriero has presided over dealing with teenagers who often commit or assist serious crimes.

It is his experience on the bench in dealing with these youth cases which led to his first book, Judging Children as Children: A Proposal for a Juvenile Justice System. In it he reasons that all criminal courts should create a special division for youths who are charged with adult crimes to better address the psychological and legal issues pertaining to their age and crime. The book also encourages a system of delayed sentence, where youths convicted of lesser crimes are given an opportunity to turn their lives around before being firmly sentenced. Writing in the New York Law Journal, Emily Jane Goodman said the book "is both personal and academic, instructive and moving." Despite noting that some may feel Corriero's approach to juvenile justice may be too lenient, a review in Publishers Weekly admitted that the author "is well placed to comment on the state of juvenile justice in the U.S." Concluding a review in Booklist, Vanessa Bush stated that the book provides a "a cogent argument and appeal for changes in how youths are treated in criminal cases."