Rockville judge named juvenile matters chief
Connecticut Superior Court Judge Dawne G. Westbrook has been named the state’s next chief administrative judge of juvenile matters, where she will help oversee how the state court system administers thousands of cases involving children under 18 years old.
Westbrook has served on the bench since 2009 and as a juvenile court judge in Rockville since 2013. She will take over the top post next week when new court assignments begin for judges across the state.
“I am very pleased that Judge Westbrook has agreed to take on this important assignment,” said Judge Patrick Carroll, the state’s chief court administrator. “She has more than 12 years’ experience as a front-line judge, with eight of those years in juvenile court. I am confident in her abilities to lead the division through the remainder of the pandemic and beyond.”
Westbrook replaces Judge Bernadette Conway, who has held the top administrative post for juvenile matters since 2013, both completing the typical five-year term for the assignment and staying on for an additional three years, Carroll said.
“I am immensely grateful to Judge Conway for her service, particularly as the Judicial Branch navigated the pandemic during 2020 and into 2021,” Carroll said. “Her knowledge of juvenile matters is outstanding, and coupled with her flexibility and administrative skills, she was able to steer the division through the many new challenges the pandemic presented.”
Westbrook takes the helm just as Connecticut’s juvenile justice laws are back under the microscope after a rash of dangerous teen car thefts this summer, including a hit-and-run crash involving a teen driving a stolen car that killed a New Britain marathoner. Republican lawmakers and criminal justice reform advocates have traded barbs over the way repeat juvenile offenders should be treated in the months since and legislators are poised to bring more proposals for juvenile court reforms in the next legislative session after a slew of debate this spring.
Westbrook already has been part of those discussions as a member of the Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee and through eight years overseeing juvenile cases at Superior Court in Rockville. She will continue to hear those cases even as she takes on the new role and Conway will continue to hear juvenile cases in New Haven.
“I am both honored and excited to serve as chief administrative judge of juvenile matters and am immensely grateful to Judge Carroll for appointing me,” Westbrook said. “I also am thankful for Judge Conway’s leadership and having had the opportunity to work with her over the past several years. Fortunately for all of us, Judge Conway will continue handling cases in juvenile court.”
Westbrook graduated from Fisk University and the Vanderbilt Law School, both in Nashville, before she was admitted to the Connecticut Bar in 1999. She was first nominated to the bench by then-gov. Jodi Rell in February 2009 and served in both Hartford and Manchester superior courts in addition to serving in the Hartford family court, according to her court biography.
She previously has served as assistant counsel for the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, board member for the Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund, legal redress counsel for the Connecticut NAACP and six years in private practice.
A member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, she remains a member of the NAACP and serves on the board of the Harriet Beecher Stowe House.