Edward Neafsey

Edward Neafsey is an Adjunct Professor at Rutgers Law School in Newark and has taught courses at both Kean and Monmouth Universities. He is currently a member of NJ’s second-chance Clemency Advisory Board and is active in the NJ State Bar Association. Neafsey was the first in his family to graduate from college. He received a BA from Assumption College and a JD from Southwestern Law School. After a short time in private practice, he joined the U.S. Army as a Captain in the Judge Advocate General Corps. He served in the First Cavalry Division in Texas and Germany, and he was awarded an Army Commendation Medal for his service. After the military, Neafsey spent over 33-years in public service. Neafsey worked for the State of New Jersey under the administrations of 8 Governors and 2 Acting Governors. In the Attorney General’s Office, he worked as the First Assistant Attorney General, State and County Prosecutor, and Inspector General. He also served as Chief of Environmental Prosecutions. Neafsey was an Assistant Commissioner for Enforcement at the Department of Environmental Protection, an assistant counsel for Governor Tom Kean, a public defender in Essex County, and a tenured Superior Court Judge in Monmouth and Mercer Counties. As Acting Union County Prosecutor, he spearheaded an investigation into the Union County Jail that led to the indictment of correction officers who assaulted immigrant detainees and conspired to cover up the abuse. As Inspector General, Neafsey was placed in charge of the NJ State Police internal affairs unit to reduce its backlog and fulfill the internal affairs requirements of the federal consent decree on racial profiling. Neafsey was appointed by the Chief Justice of the NJ Supreme Court to chair the Court’s Minority Concerns Subcommittee on Criminal Justice and the Minority Defendant. He served two terms as chair. Neafsey was a criminal trial attorney for two decades before going on the bench. He tried murder cases as a military lawyer, defense attorney, prosecutor, and judge. He has worked with FEMA in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Sandy recovery and has served as a mentor in NJ’s Veterans Diversion Program, and on the Advisory Board to the NJ Corrections Ombudsperson as an advocate for the humane and restorative treatment of prisoners. He has authored publications for Rutgers University, the National Association of Attorneys, and opinion pieces published in the Star Ledger, Asbury Park Press, Trenton Times, NJ Spotlight News, NJ Law Journal, the Hill, and the Irish Echo. Neafsey is a past Grand Marshal of the Belmar-Lake Como St. Patrick Day’s Parade, and he holds dual American and Irish citizenships. In 2022, when the NJ Legislature’s bipartisan Resolution designating March as Irish American Month was signed into law by the Governor, it recognized notable Irish Americans from NJ including Neafsey for his human rights activism.