Email: hsoto@hostos.cuny.edu
Office Tel: 718-518-6716
Biography: Professor Soto is an educator who has more than 45 years of experience in the fields of civil rights, police accountability and community organizing. He was the first Director of NYC’s Civilian Complaint Review Board after its reinvention as an all civilian agency. He also served for 7 years as the Director of the Philadelphia PD’s civilian oversight agency, the Police Advisory Commission. Professor Soto initiated his legal career as an attorney with the US Commission on Civil Rights, and then the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. Professor Soto founded the Center for Neighborhood Leadership, a community organizers training school that celebrated its 10th Anniversary in 2019.
Professor Soto is a graduate of Queens College CUNY and the New York University School of Law. He teaches courses concerning policing, criminal justice, criminal law, and the US legal-political system. He has also taught at John Jay College of Criminal Justice regarding the Puerto Rican-Latino experience with the US criminal justice system. Professor Soto is the author of three entries in “Latinos and Criminal Justice, An Encyclopedia” and published in the HETS Online Journal concerning the community college as a catalyst for community change through civic engagement.
Courses Typically Taught:
CJ 101 Introduction to Criminal Justice
CJ 150 Role of the Police in the Community (Democratic Society)
LAW 150 Introduction to Criminal Law
LEG 101 Introduction to the US Legal System
CJ 202 Corrections and Sentencing