Testimony Regarding the Criminal Justice Commission's Budget Line Item

The Criminal Justice Commission (CJC) is the entity in charge of evaluating state's attorneys, investigating misconduct by state's attorneys, and will soon embark on a national search for Connecticut's next chief state's attorney. The ACLU-CT envisions a CJC that is independent from the Division of Criminal Justice (the entity the CJC is tasked with overseeing), with stronger disciplinary mechanisms and sufficient funding to evaluate state’s attorneys and conduct investigations into any prosecutorial misconduct. With this potential growth in power comes the need to ensure the CJC’s budget is structured to match this expansion. Adequate funding is critical as the CJC prepares to conduct a national search to appoint the state’s next chief state’s attorney.