Grim
Senior Judge, Berks County

Reading, PA

Arthur Grim has been a judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Berks County, Pennsylvania, and served as administrative head of the Juvenile Court (1987– 2007). He served as president judge of the Court of Common Pleas 23rd Judicial District (2004–2008); chairman of Pennsylvania’s Juvenile Court Judges’ Commission; and a member of the juvenile justice and delinquency prevention committee of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency.

In February 2009 Grim was appointed special master by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania to review all juvenile cases presided over in Luzerne County by Judge Mark A. Ciavarella, Jr., who improperly committed juveniles to detention facilities and denied them their constitutional right to counsel in one of the most egregious violations of public trust in the history of American juvenile justice. As a result of his findings and recommendations, the Supreme Court entered an order expunging the records of over 3,000 juveniles.

Grim was an adjunct professor at Alvernia University and at St. Joseph University. He has served on the governor’s Cabinet on Children and Families since 2005.

Grim was a Yale Law School–China Law Center visiting juvenile justice consultant in China in August 2010. In the wake of the Jerry Sandusky tragedy at Pennsylvania State University, the governor appointed him judicial representative to the statewide task force on child protection.