Anger Management in New Hampshire: Circuit Court Sentences, Field Services and Your Class

New Hampshire does not have a statute built around anger management for adults. The class reaches you through the general sentencing law in RSA chapter 651, which gives the judge wide room to suspend jail time, impose probation and attach conditions meant to protect the public and help you change course. A judge in Manchester or Concord who sees a shoving match, a threat or a smashed phone may add an anger class to any of these:

• A suspended sentence on conditions. This is the workhorse of the District Division. The judge sentences you to jail time, then suspends it as long as you stay out of trouble and finish listed tasks. New Hampshire courts call the basic condition "good behavior." If you skip the class, the prosecutor can ask the court to impose the time that was held back. Often no probation officer is assigned, so the court itself, or the prosecutor's office, checks your paperwork.
• Probation with Field Services. Under RSA 651:2, probation on a class A misdemeanor can run up to two years, and longer on a felony. The New Hampshire Department of Corrections Division of Field Services supervises people placed on probation by the courts for both misdemeanors and felonies, through district offices around the state. That makes New Hampshire unusual: there is no separate county probation department, so your officer works for the state.
• Court diversion. Some counties have adult diversion programs, usually tied to restorative justice. You sign a contract, finish the tasks, and the charge can be dropped. A 2021 Granite State News Collaborative report found adult diversion is uneven: Rockingham, Strafford, Belknap and Grafton counties had programs, while Hillsborough County largely did not. Where it exists, the contract lists your class.
• Annulment later on. Once every part of the sentence is done, including any good behavior period, you may be able to ask the court to annul the record under RSA 651:5. The annulment petition asks you to confirm that all conditions are finished, which is one more reason to keep your certificate safe.

Read the exact words on your sentencing sheet or diversion contract. "Anger management as directed by probation" leaves the choice to your Field Services officer. "Anger management with a named provider" does not.

New Hampshire's busiest courts sit in the southern tier of the state:

• Manchester. Misdemeanor cases go to the 9th Circuit Court, District Division, in Manchester. Felonies go to Hillsborough County Superior Court, Northern District, in the same city.
• Nashua. Misdemeanors are heard in the 9th Circuit Court, District Division, in Nashua. Felonies go to Hillsborough County Superior Court, Southern District.
• Concord. The 6th Circuit Court, District Division, handles Concord misdemeanors, and Merrimack County Superior Court takes the felony docket.

None of these courts, as far as we could find, has published a local rule that bans online anger classes or limits them to a roster. Each judge still writes their own sentence, so the same charge can come out with different wording in Manchester than in Nashua.

In May 2015, the New Hampshire Attorney General's Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau entered into an Assurance of Discontinuance with Court Ordered Classes, Inc., an online company based in Valencia, California. According to the Attorney General's announcement, the company had solicited New Hampshire residents for anger management and other classes while representing that the state of New Hampshire had approved and accepted them, and its website described the courses as having court approval. The Attorney General called those representations false and misleading.

The case started when a defendant paid several hundred dollars for an online course, finished it and handed proof to a New Hampshire circuit court. The court would not count it and sent the matter to the Attorney General. The defendant got a full refund. Under the settlement, the company agreed not to enroll New Hampshire residents for at least one year, to remove New Hampshire references from its site, and to hand over a sum in place of a civil penalty plus the cost of the investigation. An Assurance of Discontinuance is a settlement, not a court finding of guilt.

The lesson for anyone shopping for a class: no New Hampshire state agency reviews or signs off on online anger management courses. If a provider tells you the state has approved its class, treat that as a red flag and ask your officer before paying. We do not make that claim. What we offer is a certificate your officer can check and a refund if your court turns it down.

No. We found no statewide list of anger management providers in New Hampshire, and no state office that reviews these classes. The Judicial Branch does not publish one, and the Department of Corrections does not either.

What you may meet instead:

• A Field Services district office may keep a sheet of local counselors and groups it has worked with. That sheet is a referral aid, not a rule.
• A diversion coordinator may point you to classes their program already uses.
• A judge may name a provider in the sentence itself. When that happens, the name controls.

Good Standing Courses is not on any New Hampshire court, county, diversion or Department of Corrections list, and we do not claim to be.

Possibly, and the answer belongs to the person enforcing your sentence. We found no New Hampshire statute, Supreme Court rule or Department of Corrections policy that addresses online anger classes, and none that requires anger classes to come from a listed provider or to be in person. RSA 651 leaves the content of conditions to the sentencing judge.

The 2015 case above shows the other side: a circuit court can and did refuse an online certificate. That is why we never tell you that you are covered before your officer does.

Things that make a yes easier in New Hampshire:

• Bring your sentencing sheet to the conversation, so the officer reads the same words you do.
• Pick the hour count written in the order, not a smaller one.
• Show that the certificate records a start date and a finish date, not just a print date.
• Point the officer to our verify page, where they can look up the certificate on their own.
• Keep an email or text from the officer saying the class works, and file it with your court papers.

If a Manchester, Nashua or Concord judge or officer still says no, the refund below applies.

No New Hampshire law sets the hours for an anger class. Hours come from the sentence, the diversion contract or your officer. Our honest read:

• 8 hours fits most first misdemeanor sentences and diversion contracts that just say "anger management." Medium confidence.
• 12 hours shows up when the order mentions sessions or weeks, or after a second incident. Low to medium confidence.
• 16 hours matches longer local groups. One Manchester counselor lists a 16-week anger group, and judges handling felonies or repeat cases may want more time. Low to medium confidence.
• 4 hours is uncommon here. Choose it only if your paper says 4.

New Hampshire publishes no hour standard, so these are estimates. When the sentence is silent, ask before you enroll.