The Importance of Having Specialized Juvenile Prosecutors

Anthony V. Pierro, now retired, was the Chief Juvenile/Domestic Violence Attorney at the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office located in Toms River, New Jersey. Mr. Pierro earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice from Seton Hall University and his Juris Doctor, Magna Cum Laude, from New England Law-Boston.

Anthony was Chief of the Juvenile Justice Unit since 2003 and in 2017 was promoted to his current role overseeing the Ocean County Juvenile Justice and Domestic Violence Units. From 2003, Anthony has been involved in a variety of initiatives aimed at the prevention and reduction of juvenile delinquency. In addition to his primary responsibility of prosecuting juvenile offenders, Anthony speaks at conferences across the country regarding the juvenile prosecutor’s role in juvenile justice reform and the many ethical dilemmas facing the juvenile prosecutor. Additionally, Anthony has been an invited lecturer at colleges and universities across the State on issues related to juvenile law, policy, and competency. In 2021, the County Prosecutor’s Association of New Jersey awarded Mr. Pierro the Outstanding Advocacy over a Career award.
In 2020, Anthony was appointed to the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice and served on the Juvenile Justice and Youth Crime Working Group. In addition to that appointment, in 2019, Anthony was appointed to the Federal Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice, which advises the President and Congress on matters related to juvenile justice and advises the Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) on the work of OJJDP. In 2014, he was appointed to the New Jersey Governor’s Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention Committee and is also currently a member of the New Jersey Council on Juvenile Justice System Improvement. Anthony was a member of the National District Attorneys Association’s Juvenile Prosecutors Advisory Panel and was selected to participate in the Juvenile Prosecutor’s Leadership Network.
Anthony remains active on numerous state and local committees and is a member of the New Jersey Attorney General’s Education and Law Enforcement Working Group, the Rutgers University Advisory Council on Juvenile Justice and Youth Development, and the New Jersey Council on Juvenile Justice System Improvement (CJJSI). He is also the Co-Chair of the Ocean County CJJSI, President of the Ocean County Juvenile Officer’s Association, Chairperson of the Ocean County Youth Services Commission, and is a Certified Instructor by the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice Police Training Commission.
During his tenure, Anthony and his colleagues created the New Jersey Juvenile Prosecutors’ Leadership Network comprised of juvenile prosecutors throughout the State that provide expertise on issues facing the juvenile justice system.