Paitakes retires from SHU to serve on New Jersey State Parole Board

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — Raritan resident John Paitakes, senior faculty associate in the Criminal Justice Department at Seton Hall University, was appointed by Gov. Chris Christie to the New Jersey State Parole Board, according to a press release from the university. Confirmed by the state Senate Judiciary Committee, his term began June 23; he retired from Seton Hall on July 31.

“The Criminal Justice Department wishes him well,” associate professor Aviva Twersky Glasner, department chairwoman, said in the release.

Paitakes has worked in the criminal justice field for nearly 50 years, teaching at the university for two decades, beginning in 1996 in the Master in Public Administration program as well as sharing his expertise in the criminal justice program in the areas of probation, parole, corrections and juvenile delinquency. He also taught at the Somerset County Police Academy. Prior he served in the Somerset County Probation Department for 29 years, retiring in 1996 as assistant chief.

“I will be interviewing inmates in prison who are eligible for parole as part of a two-member panel. We will decide who is released from prison or who must serve additional time,” Paitakes explained in the release.

Paitakes had previously served on the parole board from 1999 to 2006. As such, he has interviewed thousands of convicted individuals and incarcerated persons and has written and spoken on this topic.

While at Seton Hall, Paitakes brought into the classroom key experts such as N.J. State Commissioner of Corrections Gary Lanigan; crime and terrorism expert George Venizelos, assistant director of the FBI’s New York Office; and Louis Koumoutsos, chief of The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, to serve as role models, offer insights, share law enforcement experience and career possibilities.

“Professor Paitakes touched the lives of so many students as such an effective mentor and coach,” Reesa Greenwald, director of the Career Center, said in the release. “Over many years, he connected professionals in the field with his students, helping to get them internships and giving them a head start in deciding the direction of their lives. He worked closely with the Career Center to expand opportunities and provide students with the experiences that would help guide them to the right choices for their future.”

He often served as a go-to expert to the media including The New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Voice of America, Star-Ledger, New Jersey Cops, Philly.com and Jersey Journal, and as a regular contributor on Dish Network’s Fresh Outlook talk news show on a diverse range of topics from crime rates to sentencing to aging and incarceration.

Although honored by the appointment to the parole board, Paitakes expressed his appreciation to the university community.

“Teaching, counseling, advising and mentoring students over the years has been most rewarding and working with the dedicated faculty, staff and administration has been a great experience. Although moving on to another chapter in my criminal justice career, I plan on continuing my relationship and affiliation with the university,” Paitakes said.

  Chris Christie, FEATURED, New Jersey State Parole Board, Seton Hall University