BROOKLYN LAW SCHOOL
celebrates the life of Judge David G. Trager
1937–2011
April 27, 2011, 4:00 pm
Brooklyn Law School
250 Joralemon Street
Brooklyn, New York 11201
To RSVP, please go to www.brooklaw.edu/tragermemorial.
CLAW's contribution will be accompanyed by the following letter:
To the Family of the Hon. David G. Trager:
We write on behalf of an organization called CLAW, an association of women who work in the criminal justice system in the Eastern District of New York. Our collective interest is in the treatment of families in the court system. Many of us spent our formative years in Judge Trager's courtroom.
We took up a modest collection to donate to the David G. Trager Public Policy Symposium fund. The donation was inspired in part by the moving tributes paid at Judge Trager's synogogue. One story, told by the Judge's son, Josiah, was about turtles. According to Josiah, Judge Trager was the self-appointed Turtle Warden of East Hampton. He helped lost sea turtles across the Montauk Highway. But he didn't just pick them up and take them across the road. Instead, he pulled over his car and stopped traffic. In both directions. So the turtle could cross the road. This struck us as a brilliant example of Judge Trager's belief that self-determination could solve many of the vexing questions posed by the criminal justice system. At least that is our interpretation of why Judge Trager didn't carry the turtle across the road himself. From our experiences in his courtroom, we developed great respect for Judge Trager's belief in rehabilitation as a primary purpose of punishment. He was ahead of his time in this respect.
We hope this fund encourages young law students to learn more about Judge Trager's perspective.
With Sincere Condolences,
Criminal Lawyers Association of Women
