Vincent N. Schiraldi (born January 3, 1959) is an American juvenile justice policy reformer and expert. He has been a senior research scientist at the

Columbia University School of Social Work The Columbia University School of Social Work is the graduate school of social work of Columbia University. It is the nation's oldest social work program, with roots extending back to 1898, when the New York Charity Organization Society's first s ...

since October 2017. He is known for advocating for trying suspects under the age of 21 in juvenile court, and for programs that supervise older inmates and erase their records if they find a job. His advocacy for more lenient treatment of youth offenders has been controversial: youth advocates have praised his reforms for providing outlets for juveniles, while some law enforcement officers have questioned whether his policies have been too lenient.

Biography

Schiraldi grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Brooklyn,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from

Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university with campuses in Binghamton, New York, Binghamton, Vestal, New York, Vestal, and Johnson City, New Yor ...

and his MSW from New York University. He reformed the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice in 1991, and served as its director until 2002, when he founded the Justice Policy Institute (JPI). He then served as the director of the JPI until 2005, when he became the director of the District of Columbia's

Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services The Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) is the juvenile justice agency of the District of Columbia, in the United States. History Marc A Schindler was the interim Director of DYRS from January 2010 to July 2010. He succeeded Vincent ...

. As director of the Department, he argued that juveniles should not be punished as harshly, and that incentives are a better way to reduce juvenile misbehavior. In 2010, he became Commissioner of the

New York City Department of Probation The New York City Department of Probation (DOP) is the department of the government of New York City responsible for providing supervision for adults and juveniles placed on probation by judges in the Supreme, Criminal, and Family courts.; "1. T ...

, a position he held until 2014, when he became a senior advisor to mayor

Bill de Blasio Bill de Blasio (; born Warren Wilhelm Jr., May 8, 1961; later Warren de Blasio-Wilhelm) is an American politician who served as the 109th mayor of New York City from 2014 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he held the office of New Yor ...

in the New York City Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice. From March 2014 to September 2015, he was senior adviser to Elizabeth Glazer, director of the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice. He was a senior research fellow at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government from 2015 until he joined Columbia's faculty in October 2017. In 2021, he was appointed Commissioner of the New York City Department of Corrections.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schiraldi, Vincent Living people Binghamton University alumni New York University alumni Columbia University School of Social Work faculty People from Brooklyn Harvard Kennedy School faculty 1959 births