2017-2018 Session
Change SessionRepresentative Ben W. Joseph
- District
- Grand Isle-Chittenden
- Party
- Democrat
- Seat Number
- 21
- BJoseph@leg.state.vt.us
- Phone
- (802) 828-2228
- Mailing Address
- 254 Knights Cove Rd., North Hero, VT 05474
- Committees
-
- House Committee on Education
- Joint Legislative Child Protection Oversight Committee
- Canvassing Committee
- Biography
- BEN W. JOSEPH.
I am a retired Vermont Superior Court Judge, having served full time from 1998 to 2010 and part time from 2010 to 2015. During my time on the bench, I presided in Criminal, Civil, and Family courts as a trial judge. In 2009, I instituted the Rapid Referral program in the Chittenden Country Criminal Court, which resulted in pre-trial drug treatment for hundreds of defendants in DUI and other substance abuse cases. There was a study of the first 171 young defendants who completed that pre-trial treatment program. In the three years following treatment, 18 percent were arrested again. The recidivism rate for a comparable group of 300 defendants who did not receive treatment was 84 percent. Before being appointed to the bench, I served as a Public Defender in Burlington for six years. During that time I represented hundreds of defendants and completed 32 jury trials.
After graduating from law school at the University of Pennsylvania, I worked as a public defender in Philadelphia for three years. Next I was a trial attorney for the U.S. Civil Service Commission, working out of Washington, D.C. In that job, I prosecuted a case against the Governor of American Samoa for interfering in a referendum on the issue of self-government. From 1974 to 1977, I served as First Assistant Special Prosecutor for the State of Pennsylvania, investigating and prosecuting police and political corruption cases. I managed the Legal Aid office for South Philadelphia for three years. From 1977 to 1990, I was in a private general practice of law and, at the same time, I was an adjunct professor, teaching trial practice at the Rutgers Law School in Camden, New Jersey.
I am a widower with two children and five grandchildren. My wife was an attorney who worked as a prosecutor in the Franklin County State’s Attorney’s office for three years and, at a different time, was the Executive Director of the Vermont Network of organizations helping victims of domestic violence. I have lived in North Hero, Vermont for 26 years.
Bills and Resolutions Sponsored by Representative Joseph
2017-2018 Legislative Session
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Roll Call Votes by Representative Joseph
2017-2018 Legislative Session
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