About

Joy Watson is running for Nassau County District Attorney on Rows B and D. She served as a Nassau County Assistant District Attorney for nearly twenty years.

Watson is endorsed by the Nassau County Detectives Association, Inc. (DAI), Nassau Police Conference (representing Nassau's 19 village and city Police Benevolent Associations), Hempstead Police Benevolent Association (PBA), Freeport Police Benevolent Association (PBA), Long Beach Police Benevolent Association (PBA), Nassau County Veteran Police Association, Association of Retired Detectives, Nassau County Probation Officers Association (POA), Fire Marshal Association of Nassau County, Metropolitan Security Council of Greater New York, New York State Fraternal Order of Police (NYS FOP), the Adjunct Faculty Association of Nassau Community College, the Republican Party of Nassau County, the Conservative Party of Nassau County, and the Liberal Party of Nassau County.

Election Day is November 3.

Currently, Joy Watson is Principal Law Clerk to Justice Karen V. Murphy of the Nassau County Supreme Court. Prior to her current position, she served as a Nassau County Assistant District Attorney for nearly twenty years under District Attorney Denis Dillon. Her positions included Chief of the Sex Offense and Domestic Violence Bureau and Deputy Chief of the Major Offense Bureau where she was named Special Prosecutor in the high profile case of the People of the State of New York v. Elizabeth Grubman, a defendant convicted of felony leaving the scene of an accident and assault after running down more than a dozen people outside of an East End night club. She served on the faculty of Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu, California as a Teaching Fellow before joining the District Attorney’s office. Joy received her juris doctor degree from Pepperdine University School of Law and her bachelor of arts degree from the University at Albany. She is admitted to practice in the federal and state courts of the State of New York and the United States Supreme Court.

Joy is an adjunct professor in the Criminal Justice Department of Molloy College and has lectured at the Nassau County Police Academy, the Nassau County Bar Association, Adelphi University, the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and the New York State Office of Court Administration’s CLE program on the Integrated Domestic Violence Court. She has authored a chapter in the New York State Bar Association Domestic Violence Journal entitled Paper or Power - A Fundamental Analysis Of New York Criminal Contempt Laws For Violating Orders of Protection (August 2008). She has also given testimony before the New York State Senate and Assembly on proposed changes to New York State sex offender legislation. Joy was featured on the cover of Networking magazine, November/December 2002 issue.

Her professional affiliations include serving as Vice President of the Nassau County Women’s Bar Association, Past President and member of the Board of Directors of the American Academy for Professional Law Enforcement, Member of the Board of Directors for Irish Americans in Government, Member of the Board of Directors for Big Brothers Big Sisters Long Island, and the Courthouse Kiwanis. Joy is also a member of the Nassau County Bar Association, where she serves on the Advisory Board of the We Care Fund, the charitable arm of the association and is a member of the Women in the Courts and Criminal Law and Procedure committees. Joy is a member of the Former Assistant District Attorney’s Association and Vice President of the Law Secretary/Court Attorney Association of Nassau County. She serves as a mentor for students at the Middle School in Hempstead Village. She also served on the County Executive’s Task Force on Family Violence. Joy’s awards include the 2005 Hon. Thomas E. Ryan, Jr. Memorial Award presented by the Court Officer’s Benevolent Association of Nassau County and a 2005 “Champion for Children” award presented by Parents for Megan’s Law.