Division of Criminal Justice

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF STATE’S ATTORNEY

At a Glance

KEVIN T. KANE, Chief State’s Attorney

John J. Russotto, Deputy Chief State’s Attorney for Personnel, Finance and Administration

Leonard C. Boyle, Deputy Chief State’s Attorney for Operations

Established - 1973

Constitutional authority - Article XXIII of the amendments to the Connecticut Constitution Statutory authority - CGS §§51-276 and 51-277

Central office - 300 Corporate Place,

Rocky Hill, CT 06067

Number of employees - 540 (positions authorized) - 493 (positions filled)

Recurring operating expenses - $47.4 million (all sources)

Organizational structure - The Division of Criminal Justice is composed of the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney and one State’s Attorney’s office for each of the state’s thirteen Judicial Districts.

Mission

The Division of Criminal Justice is the agency within the Executive branch of government responsible for investigating and prosecuting all criminal matters, both in adult and juvenile courts, in the State of Connecticut. The agency also represents the state in all appellate, post-trial and post-conviction proceedings arising from the prosecution of criminal matters.

Improvements/Achievements 2009-10

The Division, with an ever-increasing caseload,* continued to seek out innovative means to further its public safety mission despite ongoing budgetary pressures. Under the guidance of its Information Technology Manager and utilizing four separate federal grants the Division is upgrading its information technology infrastructure as well as designing and implementing an internal Case Management System that will minimize case processing time, eliminate redundant data, and streamline reporting. This will mark the first time in its history that the agency possesses an electronic database of case activity. In the further pursuit of optimizing the accuracy of data collection and reporting, the Division commenced its federally-funded Audit of Law Enforcement Data Baseline to Criminal History Repository Records project.

*In FY 2010, the Division processed over 694,000 criminal case events; 129,618 criminal cases were added -- an increase of 5.07% since 2007. Pending cases have risen 13% since 2008. The Division has 16,561 Pending Felony cases, 220 pending murder cases of which 11 are Capital Felony cases, and over 800 open Habeas Corpus cases. The Division operated in FY 2010 with 8% less staff than in FY 2009.

In order to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of investigative and prosecutorial functions, a new organizational structure was implemented in the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney. The new structure enables the Division to draw upon the broad range of experience of prosecutors and inspectors, allowing the agency as a whole to respond to surges in demand in particular program areas and Office of the Chief State’s Attorney to work more closely with the State’s Attorneys’ offices as well as state, local and federal law enforcement agencies. The new Financial Crimes Bureau has responsibility for public integrity matters, elder abuse, and environmental and other financial crimes while the new Violent Crimes Bureau has jurisdiction over the Leroy Brown, Jr., and Karen Clarke Witness Protection Program, Cold Cases, organized crime, domestic violence, narcotics and other violent crimes.

The Division's highly successful internship program once again provided educational opportunities to 52 law students representing over 20 schools of law, including Quinnipiac University and the University of Connecticut.

Since 2003 the Division has conducted an Annual Training Program for prosecutors. Over 130 Division personnel attended an enhanced, intensive two-day program in 2010. Featured sessions included training on computer forensics and cell phone evidence, presentation of evidence in child pornography cases, instruction on the evolving understanding of domestic violence issues, and a session on professionalism and ethics. Other significant training efforts included a one-day Annual Training Program for Inspectors, participation in the Connecticut Criminal Justice Cross Training Conference, attendance at Quinnipiac University’s Implicit Bias Symposium, and the conducting of Appellate and Domestic Violence forums.

The Division=s Cold Case Unit investigates and prosecutes serious crimes that have gone "cold," or unsolved for a long period of time. In furtherance of this mission, the Division has established a new cold case subunit in cooperation with six municipal police departments that will work to make arrests in unsolved homicides in Southeastern Connecticut. The new unit is a collaborative venture of the Groton Town, Groton City, New London, Norwich, Stonington and Waterford police departments, the state Department of Correction, Connecticut State Police Eastern District Major Crime Squad, the State’s Attorney Office for the Judicial District of New London and the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney.

The Division is proud of its ongoing cooperation with the Connecticut Innocence Project in regard to the testing of potentially exculpatory DNA evidence. One such case resulted in the exoneration of an individual incarcerated for murder and the subsequent identification and arrest of a suspect who has been linked to and charged with two additional homicides. A federal grant was awarded by the United States Department of Justice to the Division of Criminal Justice, Division of Public Defender Services, and the Department of Public Safety Forensic Science Laboratory to continue and expand such testing.

The Division continues to collect data generated through its implementation of a legislature-sponsored pilot program to record confessions in major felony investigations. Over 680 custodial interviews have been recorded, resulting in more than 75 confessions.