The Honorable Cindy S. Lederman, circuit court judge of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit's Unified Children's Court, received the 2018 Janet Reno Women's Leadership Award for her many accomplishments dedicated to improving outcomes for children, youth and families in the juvenile justice system.

Judge Lederman has served in the juvenile court since 1994. During this time, she led the team that created the Domestic Violence Court and served as its first presiding judge; she issued a groundbreaking ruling paving the way for adoption by gay and lesbian couples in Florida, and she also founded the Girls Advocacy Project, an award-winning intervention for girls in the Juvenile Detention Center in Miami-Dade County.

She has a strong interest in science-based jurisprudence, and has served on many national boards and committees devoted to this approach to the law.

Judge Lederman has received numerous awards and published more than 40 articles and a book on child welfare and other issues. She has been invited to present on science-informed jurisprudence and related issues, including an address to Congressional leaders at the National Summit on America's Children on the subject of the physical and mental health of young people in the child welfare system.

The Janet Reno Women's Leadership Award is presented each year by the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform at Georgetown University to exceptional female leaders who champion the causes to which Ms. Reno dedicated her career - improving juvenile justice and delinquency prevention through community-based strategies aimed at addressing serious, violent and chronic juvenile offenders, mentoring, truancy reduction, child abuse prevention, and youth mental health and substance use issues.

Pictured in photo, left to right: Shay Bilchik, Director of the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform, the Honorable Cindy S. Lederman, and Dr. Billy Jack, Vice Provost for Research at Georgetown University.