The House Judiciary Committee has continued its focus on improving public safety in Vermont. The Committee has recently approved three bills that meet that goal: H.642, which makes changes to the youthful offender (YO) law in Vermont; H.937, which lays out a structure to expand the pilot “accountability docket” to other counties; and H.410, which improves the availability of criminal justice data to guide the legislature’s work. 

Youthful Offender Law.  This law provides an alternative to adult criminal court for youth ages 14 to 22, allowing their cases to be handled confidentially in Family Court if certain criteria are met. A court can place an individual with YO status on juvenile probation, under the jurisdiction of both the Department of Children and Families and the Department of Corrections.

The focus of juvenile probation and YO status is rehabilitation with services like education, treatment, and job training. The goal of YO status is to prevent long-term collateral consequences for the youth and allow them to avoid having a criminal record based on behavior before their brain has fully developed. If the youth violates their probation, however, a court may revoke their YO status and transfer the individual back to criminal court for sentencing. 

H.642 would change Vermont’s YO law by strengthening provisions related to accountability and by expanding victims’ rights. The bill would extend the jurisdiction of the court’s Family Division beyond the youth’s 22nd birthday if there is a motion pending to revoke their YO status. This extended jurisdiction would last either until the court revokes the youth’s probation and sends the case to the Criminal Division or until the court discharges the youth from probation. This new provision addresses the situation where youths have “timed out” of their juvenile probation because they turn 22 while there is a pending motion for revocation of their YO status.

H.642 also clarifies the factors a court considers when ruling on a motion to revoke YO status; confirms that if a youth fails to appear at the probation revocation hearing, the court may order an officer to pick up the youth and bring them to court; and expands the right of victims to be heard at YO hearings.

Accountability Docket. To deter crime, there must be a real risk of being caught committing a crime and certain and swift consequences for criminal activity. A pilot rapid accountability docket in Chittenden County focused resources on the second deterrence requirement, ensuring certain and swift consequences. The pilot program, which helped clear a backlog of repeat-offender criminal cases, brought together judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and human services staff to resolve cases faster and connect offenders to the services they need.

In H.937, the Miscellaneous Judiciary procedures bill, we defined a structure for expanding this accountability docket concept to other Vermont counties.The bill sets forth the goals of an accountability docket, including: (1) accelerating court proceedings of repeat-offender cases with consistent and timely availability of judicial, prosecutorial, defense, Corrections, and Human Services resources; (2) connecting individuals with treatment, housing, and social services to reduce the circumstances that may contribute to recidivism; (3) reducing the number of pending criminal cases that involve individuals with multiple pending cases by providing targeted resources for a limited period of time; (4) improving accountability for those individuals providing immediate follow-up and a court schedule that makes it more likely they will appear; and (5) improving collaboration among law enforcement, prosecutors, and social workers to provide faster resolution of repeat offender cases.

For those counties that will employ an accountability docket, the bill requires the county’s State’s Attorney to convene stakeholders to develop a plan to implement the program that meets these goals. It also requires the courts, prosecutors, defense counsel, and the administration to provide resources for 90-day accountability dockets. And H.937 mandates data tracking and reporting to measure the effectiveness of the accountability dockets.

Criminal Justice Data. The Committee passed H.410 to provide ongoing criminal justice data to inform the work of the legislature. The bill creates a standardized definition of recidivism in Vermont law. Recidivism rates measure when individuals previously convicted of a crime commit a new offense. Currently, the definition of recidivism in Vermont is outdated and arbitrary, focusing on a narrow section of individuals. H. 410 brought stakeholders together to revamp the definition to make it relevant and usable in future studies and legislation related to criminal justice in Vermont.

The bill defines recidivism simply as a new criminal conviction following a prior conviction. The recidivism period for new convictions begins when an individual is released from incarceration or sentenced to a non-custodial sentence. 

H.410 also establishes a number of annual reports from the Vermont Statistical Analysis Center. The reports will include bail rates and information on individuals held pretrial in Vermont correctional facilities; recidivism rates calculated over three- and five-year periods; arrests and clearance rates organized by offense type; and information on the twenty crimes with the highest number of convictions, including sentencing data and total years of probation and incarceration imposed. The reports are to include demographic information, when available. H.410 improves consistency in how Vermont measures recidivism and provides Vermont with clear, comprehensive data on trends in our criminal justice system. 

If you have any questions or input on these or other matters, reach out to me at mlalonde@leg.state.vt.us.