CHARLES J. HYNES DISTRICT ATTORNEY KINGS COUNTY BROOKLYN, NEW YORK 1990 to PRESENT

On November 7, 2005, Charles J. Hynes was re-elected to his fifth term as the District Attorney of Kings County (Brooklyn), New York; he was sworn into office on January 10, 2006. 

The District Attorney began his career in public service in 1963 as an associate attorney for the Legal Aid Society.  In 1969, he joined the Kings County District Attorney's Office as an Assistant District Attorney.  In 1971, he was named Chief of the Rackets Bureau and in 1973, he was promoted to First Assistant District Attorney. 

In 1975, Governor Hugh Carey and Attorney General Louis Lefkowitz appointed Mr. Hynes as Special State Prosecutor to investigate nursing home fraud.  His State Medicaid Fraud Control Unit became a national model and his Medicaid Fraud Control legislation - which provided federal funding for any state interested in starting a unit - became law in 1978.  That same year, District Attorney Hynes was elected the first president of the National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units.  Today, 47 states have Medicaid fraud control units. 

            In 1980, Mayor Edward I. Koch appointed Mr. Hynes as Fire Commissioner of New York City.  In 1982, after two years in that post as Fire Commissioner, he left public service for private practice.  He served as a Commissioner for the New York State Commission of Investigation between 1983 and 1985 by appointment of New York State Assembly Speaker Stanley Fink.  He returned to public service in 1985, appointed by Governor Mario Cuomo as a Special State Prosecutor for the New York City Criminal Justice System.  

In 1987, the District Attorney became the center of national attention when Governor Cuomo called on him to investigate the murder of Michael Griffith in Howard Beach, Queens.   As  the  Special  Prosecutor  and  Chief  Trial  Attorney  in  that case, Mr. Hynes led the investigation and prosecution which resulted in three homicide convictions.  

            As District Attorney, Mr. Hynes has pioneered many innovative criminal justice strategies.  He started one of the first specialized domestic violence bureaus in the country and then worked with court administrators to establish one of the first domestic violence court parts in New York State.  In 2005, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and         Mr. Hynes started a United States Department of Justice funded Family Justice Center – a one stop shopping service for victims of domestic violence and their surviving children.  The Center is dedicated to the memory of Mr. Hynes’ mother, Regina Katherine Drew.  He started one of the first Drug Treatment Alternative-to-Prison (DTAP) programs for chronic drug offenders in the country, which has rehabilitated hundreds of non-violent drug addicts and become a model for the nation. 

District Attorney Hynes created a Crimes Against Children Bureau to bring special expertise to child abuse cases and a School Advocacy Bureau to handle cases that arise in schools or on school grounds.  He created a faith-based mentoring program called Youth and Congregations in Partnership to provide support to court-involved youth from members of Brooklyn’s churches, mosques and synagogues.  And he created an adopt-a-school program called Legal Lives to teach fifth graders about the criminal justice system, which is supplemented by a truancy reduction program called TRACK (Truancy Reduction Alliance to Contact Kids) which now has been copied in every other borough of New York City. 

In 1999, Mr. Hynes created the ComALERT (Community And Law Enforcement Resources Together) public safety program which supports individuals on probation or parole as they re-enter their Brooklyn communities.  He was motivated to implement ComALERT by his philosophy that education, intervention and rehabilitation are as important as traditional law enforcement techniques.  This program refers participants to community-based organizations that provide them with job training, job placement, education, housing, mental health and substance abuse counseling.  In 2005 District Attorney Hynes created the Girls Re-entry Assistance and Support Program (GRASP).  GRASP is specifically designed to meet the needs of young women between the ages of 13 and 22 who are returning to the community after placement in a juvenile or adult correctional facility.  Very few re-entry programs exist to provide services for young women at this critical juncture in their lives.  All GRASP services are gender responsive in nature and include counseling, case-management, mentoring, anger and stress management, cultural and recreational activities, educational assistance and referrals for health services in addition to age appropriate career development and job placement.             

            Mr. Hynes is now spearheading a groundbreaking alternative-to-prison program for mothers and their children through a not-for-profit foundation named in honor of his mother, Regina Drew.  The Drew Foundation is planning to operate the first residence of its kind in the country in which women will be permitted to remain with all of their children in a secure, community-based setting while receiving intensive trauma-focused, rehabilitative services.   

District Attorney Hynes is a proud and life-long resident of Brooklyn, where he was born and raised in the Flatbush section.  He met his wife, Patricia L. Pennisi, a registered nurse, while they were undergraduate students. He attended St. John's University while she was at Kings County Hospital.  They were married in October of 1963.  Throughout the years, he and Mrs. Hynes have remained professionally and personally loyal to Brooklyn where they chose to pursue their respective careers and raise five children.  Today, the two enjoy the role of grandparents to sixteen grandchildren. 

Since 1983, Mr. Hynes has served as a member of the Board of Trustees for the New York State Lawyers’ Fund for Client Protection. 

Since 2000, he has served as a member of the American Bar Association where he sat as co-chair of the Prosecutors Function Committee.  He has also served as a member of the ABA Criminal Justice Section.  In 2005, the Criminal Justice Section presented Mr. Hynes with their “Minister of Justice Award.”  In 2007, he became the Vice Chair-at-Large of the Criminal Justice Section.  Mr. Hynes was appointed by the ABA President to serve as a member of the ABA’s Commission on Effective Criminal Sanctions in 2006, for a term of two years.  In 2008, he was elected Chair-elect of the Criminal Justice Section of the American Bar Association.  Also in 2008, he received the American Bar Association Award, “Lawyer as Problem Solver.” 

In 1990, he became a member of the National District Attorneys Association and from 1993 until 2007, he served as New York State Director on the Board.  In 2007, he was elected a Vice President of the Association.