Phillip Rapoza is a retired American

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

. He was chief justice of the

Massachusetts Appeals Court The Massachusetts Appeals Court is the intermediate appellate court of Massachusetts. It was created in 1972 as a court of general appellate jurisdiction. The court is located at the John Adams Courthouse at Pemberton Square in Boston, the same ...

until his retirement in 2015. He was appointed to this court in 1998 and became the Chief Justice in 2006. He has worked internationally, serving on the Special Panels for Serious Crimes in

Timor-Leste East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...

and heading a UN Criminal Justice Advisory Team in

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

. He was also involved in programs in

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

relating to the

Khmer Rouge Tribunal The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC; french: Chambres extraordinaires au sein des tribunaux cambodgiens (CETC); km, អង្គជំនុំជម្រះវិសាមញ្ញក្នុងតុលាការ� ...

. Although retired from the

judiciary The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

, Rapoza remains active in the field of international justice and is president of the

International Penal and Penitentiary Foundation The International Penal and Penitentiary Foundation (IPPF; french: Fondation internationale pénale et pénitentiaire, ) is an international organisation with quasi-governmental status. It promotes studies on crime-prevention and treatment of of ...

Early life and education

Rapoza grew up in

New Bedford, Massachusetts New Bedford (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast (Massachusetts), South Coast region. Up throug ...

. He was educated at Yale and Cornell. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Yale College and a Doctor of Law degree from Cornell Law School.

Legal career

Rapoza was assistant district attorney in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

and Bristol County District and later practiced as a criminal defense attorney in

Fall River Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The City of Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States Census, making it the tenth-largest city in the state. Located along the eastern shore of Mount H ...

and

New Bedford New Bedford (Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. Up through the 17th century, the area was the territory of the Wampanoag Native American pe ...

. He was appointed as a judge to the Fall River District Court in 1992, where he served for four years before his appointment to the Superior Court. He stayed in the Superior Court until his appointment in 1998 to the

, the intermediate appellate court for the state of Massachusetts. In 2006 he became its Chief Justice. Rapoza retired from the judiciary on June 30, 2015, but continues his international work.

International work

In the field of international criminal justice, Rapoza has served on two United Nations war crimes tribunals and is involved in a number of international legal initiatives. From 2003 to 2005 he took an unpaid leave of absence from the Massachusetts Appeals Court to work as an international judge and coordinator of the war crimes tribunal set up by the UN to prosecute crimes against humanity and other serious offenses committed during the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. On this tribunal he was the only judge from a

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...

country and the only one who had also worked as an attorney which gave him a unique perspective on the proceedings. In 2012, he was appointed as a reserve judge on the Supreme Court Chamber of the UN-backed

. He also led a UN Criminal Justice Advisory Team in

. Rapoza established the Commission for Justice Across the Atlantic, a legal exchange program between the United States and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. He is the President of the

, which promotes studies around the world in the field of crime prevention and the treatment of offenders.

Early life and education

Legal career

International work

References

Further reading