A Question of Freedom

At 16 years old, R. Dwayne Betts carjacked a man and spent the next nine years in some of the toughest adult prisons in Virginia. Now a poet, author, and national spokesperson for the Campaign for Youth Justice, he's written a book based on his experiences, A Question of Freedom: A Memoir of Learning, Survival, and Coming of Age in Prison.

Michael A. Corriero is currently the Executive Director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City.   The mission of Big Brothers Big Sisters is to provide mentors to all children who need caring adult role models.

He was appointed to the Court of Claims in June 1990.  From September of 1992 to February of 2008, Judge Corriero presided over Manhattan's Youth Part, a court set aside within the adult court system to deal exclusively with the cases of 13-, 14-, and 15-year-olds who are charged with the most serious and violent crimes.

He was previously appointed to the New York State Supreme Court and also served as a Judge of the Criminal Court of the City of New York.  He lectured on criminal justice as an Adjunct Professor at Pace University and was an Assistant District Attorney for New York County.

Judge Corriero is the author of a book, entitled Judging Children as Children: A Proposal for a Juvenile Justice System, published by Temple University Press.  He is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the Livingston Hall Juvenile Justice Award (American Bar Association). He has also served as a member or chair on various juvenile justice committees. He has traveled internationally to consult and lecture on juvenile justice issue and is currently a member of Governor Paterson's Task Force on Transforming Juvenile Justice.

Nancy Ginsburg is the director of  the Adolescent Intervention and Diversion Team of the Legal Aid Society, Criminal Practice.  The team represents youths who are 13-15 years old and are charged with violent felonies which are prosecuted in Supreme Court, and 16-18 year olds who are prosecuted in Criminal and Supreme Courts. The lawyers and social workers also represent the clients in educational proceedings.

Ginsburg has been with the Legal Aid Society for 17 years, practicing in the Juvenile Rights Practice of the Legal Aid Society in the Manhattan and Bronx Family Courts, in addition to the Criminal Practice in the Criminal and Supreme Courts in Manhattan. She specializes in the representation of children in criminal, foster care, and educational matters.

Pamanicka "Chino" Hardin was born and raised in Flatbush, Brooklyn, and has worked in the field of youth leadership development and gang prevention/intervention for seven years.  She serves as the Community Organizer of the Institute for Juvenile Justice Reform and Alternatives.

Hardin has over seven years of experience in the field of conflict resolution, violence prevention and gang intervention.  Her expertise stems from on-the-ground apprenticeship with seasoned youth development trainers and practitioners from across the country as well as from her own personal experience in the streets and within the juvenile/criminal justice system. 

Hardin has appeared in numerous publications and media outlets, such as the Village Voice, BET, City Limits, The Ave Magazine, and Caribbean Life.

Kyung Ji Kate Rhee serves is director of the Institute for Juvenile Justice Reform and Alternatives (formerly known as Prison Moratorium Project) whose mission is to reduce the number, rate, and likelihood of youth incarceration. IJJRA was recently established as a juvenile justice project of the Center for NuLeadership at Medgar Evers College.

Rhee has been widely recognized for her work in juvenile justice and prison system reform with specific focus on racial justice.  Under her leadership, IJJRA led winning campaigns that stopped the expansion of the juvenile detention facilities in New York City and juvenile correctional facilities in New York State.  

Rhee has been featured in a range of publications and magazines, including the Utne Reader (Top 30 Visionaries under 30), the Village Voice, The Source, (Top 10 Artists, Albums, & Political Players of the Year), The KoreAm Magazine, the Gotham Gazette, the New York Sun and the Brooklyn Free Press.

Liz Ryan serves as president and CEO of the Campaign for Youth Justice, a national organization dedicated to ending the practice of trying, sentencing, and incarcerating youth in the adult criminal justice system.

Previously, Ryan served for five years as advocacy director for the Youth Law Center's Building Blocks for Youth Initiative, a project to reduce the over-incarceration and disparate treatment of children of color in the juvenile justice system.  Her work at the Youth Law Center involved campaign advocacy assistance at the national, state and local levels to stop punitive juvenile justice legislation, redirect funding to communities, and increase involvement of the constituencies that were most affected by juvenile justice decision-making. 

Ryan served as deputy chief of staff and legislative director to U.S. Senator Thomas R. Carper during his terms as Delaware's governor and member of the U.S. House of Representatives. She also served as a lobbyist for the Children's Defense Fund and is a former VISTA volunteer. 

She serves on the Advisory Committee of the Justice for DC Youth. Ryan holds a BA from Dickinson College (Carlisle, PA) and an MA from The George Washington University (Washington, DC).

Leonard Noisette is the director of the Criminal Justice Fund for U.S. Programs at the Open Society Foundations. In this role, Noisette leads the foundation's efforts to reduce mass incarceration, end harsh punishment, and eliminate racial disparities and secure a fair and equitable system of justice.

Noisette has spent his entire professional career working in the criminal justice arena. He has worked with the New York City Legal Aid Society, and was a founding member and longtime executive director of the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, an innovative public defender office renowned for its leadership in the development of community-based, full service representation of clients.  Through his position there, Noisette was involved in local, statewide and national efforts to address the many deficiencies in the U.S. criminal justice system. 

During the years of the Clinton Administration, Noisette participated in the Justice Department's work to improve indigent defense and defense-prosecution relations.  From 1999-2001, he was a member of the Executive Session on Public Defense, sponsored by the Federal Bureau of Justice Assistance and Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. 

Noisette has served on the boards of the New York State Defenders Association and the National Legal Aid & Defender Association.  He is an adjunct professor at Fordham and Columbia University Law Schools, and is an active member of numerous bar associations.

Terrance Pitts is program officer for the Criminal Justice Fund at the Open Society Institute. Prior to coming to OSI, he served as a program officer with the Academy for Educational Development, where he designed and implemented leadership development strategies to support emerging social justice leaders through the New Voices Fellowship Program.

Pitts earned a JD from Northwestern University School of Law, a master of arts in law and diplomacy from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and an AB from Stanford University.