John Zhuo Wang is the Presiding Judge of Midtown Community Justice Center, the country’s first, non-indigenous community court providing diversion and alternative-to-incarceration programming to those charged with misdemeanors in the midtown community as well as young adults and those struggling with mental illness and substance abuse. Judge Wang is the first Asian American elected to the 1st Municipal District as a Judge of the NYC Civil Court and previously served as a Housing Judge in Brooklyn, New York. John is the 2024 recipient of the Hon. Robert T. Russell Jr. Award of Innovation given to jurists who provide “kindness, compassion, leadership, and dedication to the treatment court field.” He currently serves on the New York State Judiciary’s Task Force on Mental Health. John and his family live in Manhattan, New York.