With Honorable Janine Barbera-Dalli
A feverish pace punctuated the District Court room on the fifth floor of the Cohanlan Court Complex in East Islip. Young district attorneys and Legal Aid attorneys were busy on their phones, a court office guarded the entrance and the second one guarded the bench. A phone was ringing and Suffolk County residents in the possession of the penal system and their family members lined the benches. IN GOD WE TRUST was front center is large letters directly over Honorable Janine Barbera-Dalli’s behemoth wooden desk. She was in her Chambers as I entered her courtroom.
I was pleased to be invited to Smithtown’s Barbera-Dalli courtroom. She is a District Court Judge and has been on the bench for three years. During my visit I was escorted to her chambers for a quick chat where I saws throngs of family photos about the beautifully decorated room. I met some of her staff and was allowed to sit in the empty jury box to observe her at work.
THE WOMAN AND THE JUDGE
Now I know Barbera-Dalli as an active community member, a devoted mother and wife and a friend to many. Positive, interesting and fun to be around, Barbera-Dalli has been a welcomed face for me in the male bastion of political functions.
However, Barbera-Dalli adorned in her black robe, her judicial uniform, is nothing like the woman I have come to know. She is a no nonsense Judge. She is tough and decisive– period, the end.
WOMEN, CHILDREN AND THE DISENFRANCHISED
Barbera-Dalli practiced law for twenty five years in the private sector before winning her six year-term as a District Court Judge. Her concentration was matrimonial law. Born and raised in Brentwood, she moved to Smithtown in 1988. All of her children were born in Smithtown except her daughter Kyra who was adopted by her and her husband Bart from Russia. Kyra is now fourteen.
Barbera-Dalli’s impetus for pursuing juris prudence (the study of law) was to be a mouthpiece for women and children who she felt were underrepresented. A noble goal, Barbera-Dalli quickly found that her Legal Aid salary was not enough to pay her law school loans. She turned to real estate as a Bank Attorney and thereafter Criminal Appellate work, culminating with Matrimonial law.
Remaining faithful to her initial goals in law school Barbera-Dalli always maintained at least one pro bono case, sometimes several. Furthering her objective to serve the unprivileged led her to seek a Judgeship. She says that her role on the bench allows her to help women, children and the disenfranchised.
When troubled young people come before her – as many did during my visit, she is able to send them for drug treatment or to facilities where they can get comprehensive help that will optimistically keep them out of the penal system in the future. Barbera-Dalli just placed two dislocated youths into Timothy Hill Ranch which is located in Riverhead; it helps troubled youth gain strategies for a successful life. At TimothyHill Ranch young people can also complete their education and are provided job skills.
A REWARDING ROLE
Barbera-Dalli says her role as Judge is a most rewarding one. She recently shared the story of a drugged out twenty-year old boy who could barely stand up when he came before her. She had him arrested so he could sober up in jail – then released him with distinct directions to get into treatment and to report back to her monthly. Each and every time he came before her he looked healthier. Today he has donned his ratty hoodies and dirty jeans for a shirt and tie. Always accompanied by his mother, Barbera-Dalli praises the young man. He stand tall and straight and walks with price. His mother weeps with gratitude. That boy is presently seeking employment and pursuing some night classes in college. She says there are far too many young people who need assistance to turn their lives around. She says tough love and direction can help some of them.
However, sometimes the addiction wins. Although a District Court Judge, not a Drug Court Judge, the Island’s pernicious opiate/heroin epidemic has not escaped her courtroom. A young man in his 20’s came before her while I sat fidgeting in the jury box. As Barbera-Dalli proceeded to rattle off a dozen plus instances where he failed a drug test or didn’t show for treatment, two armed Court Officers arrived and stood beside him. They had the cuffs out – it was clear he would not be leaving the Cohanlan facility that day. Later at a luncheon for the Judges, she shared with me that she had no choice but to put that young man behind bars, to be tough on him. She said he was both a danger to himself and to the citizens of the county. That was abysmally apparent.
Every day Barbera-Dalli deals with Long Island’s invisible people. Far removed from bucolic neighborhoods, well-performing school districts and beautiful beaches, they are the poor, the disenfranchised, the addicted and the forgotten. Some will turn their lives around, some will not. However, Barbera-Dalli does what she is able to reduce recidivism and to assist them in building their lives so they can live successfully in society.
The darkness that hovers over the disenfranchised and the broken does not dissuade her, she helps as many as she can.
(Next week we will take a look at a Adolescent Diversion Program Honorable Janine Barbara-Dali supports and hear directly from her on this critical issue)