Honorable Betsy Barros currently serves as an Associate Justice of the Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department of the New York State Supreme Court. She was first appointed to this position by Governor Andrew Cuomo in April 2014. In January 2022, Governor Kathy Hochul appointed Justice Barros to the Constitutional Bench of the Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department. She holds the distinction of being the first Latina woman to serve in these capacities.

Justice Barros began her judicial career after being elected to the Kings County Civil Court bench in 1996, where she served in New York County Criminal Court. In 1997, she was elected to the Kings County Supreme Court, where she presided over criminal, matrimonial, and guardianship cases.

During her six-year tenure in the Criminal Term of the Supreme Court, she worked closely in collaboration with alternative-to-incarceration programs including TASC, a pioneering and nationally recognized residential drug treatment initiative, to rehabilitate addicted youth and adult offenders facing long-term incarceration. In this capacity, she worked with hundreds of felony offenders, successfully transitioning them back into the community.

For over a decade Justice Barros presided over a guardianship part, where she oversaw cases involving at-risk incapacitated individuals, including senior citizens subjected to physical abuse or financial exploitation. She was appointed by the Honorable Randall T. Eng to chair the Judicial Guardianship Roundtable for the 1st and 2nd Judicial Departments and served in this capacity until her appointment to the Appellate Division.

Justice Barros dedicated her early legal career to public service. She spent six years representing indigent clients as a staff attorney with the Criminal Defense Division of Legal Aid Society in Brooklyn, then served as a Special State Prosecutor addressing corruption in the criminal justice system. She later served as Chief of the Civil Rights Bureau and Chief of a felony trial bureau in the Kings County District Attorney’s Office.

A graduate of Cornell University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1979, Justice Barros earned her J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1982. She is involved in professional organizations including the Latino Judges Association, Brooklyn Bar Association, Puerto Rican Bar Association and Brooklyn Women’s Bar Association.

The daughter of Chilean immigrants, Justice Barros was born and raised in Brooklyn, where she resides with her husband. Her career reflects a lifelong commitment to justice, public service, and the communities she serves.