Karen Carroll (judge)

Karen Russell Carroll was born in Newport on February 7, 1963, and raised in Proctor;^[1] her family moved around the state based on her father's assignments as a member of the Vermont State Police.^[2] Carroll's family has been involved in law enforcement for several generations; both her grandfather and great-grandfather were chief of police in Burlington.^[2]

She is a 1981 graduate of Proctor High School,^[1] and graduated from Salve Regina University with a Bachelor of Arts and Science in Criminal Justice and English and French Literature in 1985.^[1] She received her Juris Doctor from Vermont Law and Graduate School in 1988.^[1]

Carroll's experience included: deputy state’s attorney for Windham County (1988–1994);^[1] Special Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Vermont (1994–2000);^[1] and assistant state attorney general with responsibility for prosecutions related to the Southern Vermont Drug Task Force (1994–2000).^[1]

From December 2000 to April 2017, Carroll was a judge of the Vermont Superior Court.^[1] She presided over Family, Criminal and Civil Divisions in Windham, Windsor, and Bennington Counties,^[1] and was the first presiding judge of Vermont’s first DUI Treatment Court, which is in Windsor County.^[2] She has also been an instructor at the Vermont Police Academy and she has taught Criminal Procedure and Criminal Law at the Community College of Vermont.^[2]

Carroll was appointed to the Vermont Supreme Court in 2017 and served until her retirement in August 2025.^[2][3]

Carroll is a resident of Vernon.^[1] She is married to Richard C. Carroll, who is a partner in a Brattleboro law firm.^[1] They are the parents of three children.^[1]