Attorney General briefs Senate Judiciary on criminal-justice budget, asks for pre‑charge diversion to be included in appropriations letter

The Attorney General briefed the Senate Judiciary Committee on the Attorney General’s Office criminal‑justice budget and requested that the committee include funding for the new pre‑charge diversion program in its letter to the Appropriations Committee.

The attorney general said the office’s criminal‑justice operations include roughly “a 50 positions and a hundred lawyers,” and described several distinct units: a Criminal Division that focuses on violent felonies and officer‑use‑of‑force reviews; the Vermont Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force that handles electronic exploitation of children; and a Medicaid fraud and residential‑abuse unit that investigates provider fraud, abuse, neglect and financial exploitation tied to Vermont Medicaid. The attorney general also described a Community Justice Unit that coordinates restorative‑justice grants and will incorporate elements of the…