Leslie Crocker Snyder (born 1942) is an American lawyer and former judge, most notable for her work writing and instituting the original rape shield laws in the state of New York.
[3] Snyder graduated from Radcliffe College (now Harvard) on scholarship in 1962 and completed a certificate from the Harvard-Radcliffe Program in Business Administration in 1963.
[citation needed] Snyder has worked in the New York criminal justice system for over thirty-five years, both as a prosecutor and as a judge.
During her nine years in the office, Snyder founded and led the Sex Crimes Prosecution Bureau, which was the first in the nation and co-authored New York State's rape shield law.
Soon after, she was appointed to the position of a Judge of the Criminal Court of the City of New York in 1983 by Mayor Ed Koch.
[citation needed] While on the bench, Snyder presided over such trials as those of the "Gheri Curls", the "Wild Cowboys", the "Young Talented Children" and the "Natural Born Killers", among others, including those of murderers, rapists, as well as many white-collar, stock fraud and mob cases.
[9] In 2004–2005, she made several guest appearances on Law and Order portraying New York judge Rebecca Logan.
[10] Leslie Crocker Snyder is also a board member of the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club, DARE, Abraham House, Federal Drug Agents Foundation, and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.