The Hon. Frederick C. Arriaga is a judge for the Criminal Court of the City of New York in Kings County. He was appointed to the Criminal Court in 2017 by Mayor Bill de Blasio. Judge Arriaga had previously sat as an elected Civil Court judge in Kings County from 2008 to 2017. During his tenure on the Civil Court, Judge Arriaga was designated as an Acting Justice of the Kings County Supreme Court beginning in 2013. It was at that time that Judge Arriaga also became a presiding STEP judge (Screening Treatment and Enhancement Part Program), which convenes in a special courtroom in the Brooklyn Criminal Court. The STEP program allows first-time offenders to enter a court-mandated drug treatment program that includes regular court appearances and supervision. The successful completion of the program allows the offenders to leave with a clean record.
He is a registered Democrat.
Judge Arriaga received his B.S. from the University of Florida in 1983. He went on to earn his J.D. from Brooklyn Law School in 1992.
Arriaga began his legal career as a senior attorney with the South Brooklyn Legal Services in 1992. During his tenure there, Arriaga provided free legal services to low-income individuals struggling with issues involving housing, access to education, health care, and other economic challenges. In 1996, he became a senior attorney with the Legal Aid Society: Brooklyn Office for the Aging, where he worked briefly, until rejoining the South Brooklyn Legal Services in the same capacity the following year. He would remain there until 2004 when he became counsel to the Brooklyn Borough President. He would practice until his election to the Civil Court bench in 2008.
Some of Arriaga’s memberships have included the Brooklyn Bar Association, the Brooklyn Women’s Bar Association, the Puerto Rican Bar Association, and a board member of the Association of Judges of Hispanic Heritage.
Judge Arriaga was born in Chicago to parents who immigrated from Colombia.