Connecticut State Division of Criminal Justice

Judge Sentences Woman to 27 Years in Prison for 2021 Fatal Shooting of Boyfriend in Middletown

Division of Criminal Justice Programs and Services

Specialized Units in the Office of the Chief State's Attorney

Appellate Bureau

The Appellate Bureau is responsible for representing the State of Connecticut in the vast majority of appeals challenging criminal convictions. This bureau, which employs approximately twenty-five prosecutors, prepares written legal arguments (briefs) and presentations (oral argument) before the Connecticut Supreme Court and the Connecticut Appellate Court.

In any given year, the Bureau will have some 800 separate cases pending before the state's appeals courts and another dozen before the United States Supreme Court. Among these cases are appeals of the convictions of those under death sentences in Connecticut.

The centralization of appellate litigation in a single bureau serving the entire State permits prosecutors to become appellate specialists. These attorneys track development and trends throughout the state's trial courts, and also conduct important research for the Chief State's Attorney on criminal justice issues and training.

Civil Litigation Bureau

The Civil Litigation Bureau is primarily responsible for state and federal habeas corpus actions, in which a convict challenges the lawfulness of his or her criminal conviction in a civil court action. The Civil Litigation Bureau also is responsible for responding to civil subpoenas of investigative and other records of the Division of Criminal Justice or seeking injunctive or declaratory relief.

Statewide Prosecution Bureau

The Statewide Prosecution Bureau is responsible for the investigation and prosecution of so-called white collar and other financial crimes, including government corruption. Program areas include crimes involving financial abuse or exploitation of the elderly, criminal violations of the environmental protection laws, government corruption and other offenses against public integrity and other crimes involving a financial aspect.

Medicaid Fraud Control Unit

The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigates and prosecutes fraud and abuse, including physical abuse and neglect of patients, in facilities that receive funding from the  Medicaid program.

Cold Case/Shooting Task Force Unit

The Cold Case/Shooting Task Force Bureau is responsible for the investigation and prosecution of violent crime. The Bureau includes our Shooting Task Forces and Cold Case Units, which investigate and wherever possible prosecute serious crimes that have gone "cold," or unsolved for a long period of time. The cases assigned to this Unit typically include unsolved murders, some of which took place decades ago. The Unit works closely with the Connecticut State Police, municipal police departments, and nationally recognized forensics experts, utilizing the latest technology to solve these crimes.

Witness Protection Program

The LeRoy Brown, Jr. and Karen Clarke Witness Protection Program is a statewide program operated in cooperation with he State's Attorneys and local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to identify and protect witnesses in criminal proceedings where there is evidence of substantial danger that the witness may suffer from intimidation or retaliatory violence. The unit was formally created in 1999 with the enactment of Public Act 99-240, which established the Leroy Brown, Jr. and Karen Clarke Witness Protection Program.

Through a variety of means, tailored to the individual circumstances presented by each witness, the Witness Protection Unit coordinates protection both to protect their safety and the interest of justice. Services can include temporary relocation, semi-permanent relocation in or outside of Connecticut and police protection. The Unit provides some form of assistance to approximately 200 individuals each year.

Workers' Compensation Fraud Control Bureau

The Workers' Compensation Fraud Control Bureau has two primary goals: the prosecution of workers' compensation fraud cases, and public awareness of the problem of workers' compensation fraud.