Officials, restorative justice providers urge $1.7M to expand precharge diversion statewide

Attorney General's Office staff and local restorative justice providers told a legislative committee that about $1.7 million in state funding is needed to expand precharge (pre‑charge) diversion statewide and to standardize data collection for tracking deflections from the criminal court system.

The funding request, presented by Willa Farrell of the Attorney General's Office, is intended to continue services where they already exist and to expand precharge options into more counties. Farrell told the committee, "we are asking for approximately 1,700,000.0, and that is to continue services where it exists and to expand that statewide." The office framed the work as both supportive and supervisory: it will provide training and policy guidance while holding local programs accountable through data and evaluation.

The request and discussion come after enactment of Act 180, which assigns responsibilities for some diversion guidance and oversight to the Attorney General's Office. Committee members heard from Heather Hobart, executive director of the Lamoille…