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Time To Talk – Justice Series II: Kids and Courts
Friday, 9/23:  7:00
members/students/general: $5 / $5 / $12, free to Hudson residents

 
  Part Two of the Justice Series will focus on young people. Columbia County Judge Jonathan Nichols will speak about drug court and ways to redirect our resources and our young people in positive directions. Jenny Kronenfeld, director of the Vera Institute's Esperanza Project, will describe an innovative justice program seeking to reduce the number of youth placed in juvenile facilities. Nichols and Kronenfeld bring years of experience to their vision of a just world.

Judge Nichols will speak about the recently created Columbia County Drug Court and ways it will impact PINS and young people's relationship to the courts.

Kronenfeld will speak about the challenges of prison reform and implementing direct service programs.

 

Kronenfeld and Esperanza:
Under the name Esperanza/Hope, NYC officials and Vera are attempting to reduce the use of custodial placements by encouraging probation officers, prosecutors, and judges to rely on other responses ranging from straight probation to intensive programs that operate in the community. The project is also operating an innovative intensive program that serves youngsters and their families at home.

Jenny Kronenfeld first joined Vera as a staff attorney at the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem in 1992. (NDS offers criminal defense and related services to people living in Harlem who cannot afford to hire legal counsel. Its community base, unusual team-based representation, and system of early case entry have earned the organization national recognition as an innovative model for indigent criminal defense.)

In 1997 she joined the newly created Bronx Defenders, working first as a supervising team leader and becoming the deputy director in 1999. She recently returned to Vera to work on systemic issues within the juvenile justice system and to help develop and run a new sentencing option for young people facing placement out of family court. Jenny has a B.A. in sociology from Hunter College and a J.D. from the CUNY School of Law. Prior to becoming a lawyer Jenny worked in a variety of capacities with state prisoners, people addicted to drugs and alcohol, and runaway and homeless children.

Honorable Jonathan D. Nichols:
Judge Jonathan D. Nichols was appointed to the bench by Governor George Pataki in March 2003 and elected in November 2003. He presides over Columbia County's Family, County, and Surrogate's Courts. He also has served in Albany, Greene, Ulster, Rensselaer, and Schoharie Counties.

Judge Nichols was a Principal in the law firm Connor, Curran, & Shcram, P.C. from 1990 - 2003. He also served as County Attorney for Columbia County from 2002 - 2003. Additionally, he was counsel to several municipalities in Columbia County between 1989 and 2003. Prior to entering private practice, Judge Nichols served as a law research assistant in the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department in 1984-1985, and as the confidential law clerk to Hon. John G. Connor, Supreme Court, Columbia County from 1984 to 1988.

In 1984, Judge Nichols graduated, cum laude, from Western New England College, School of Law. He is a native of Columbia County, having grown up in Philmont and presently resides in Kinderhook with his family.