mental-health

Public Safety Update and Protective Orders

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Vermonters continue to be concerned about public safety. In the last biennium, the legislature sought to mitigate these concerns. We passed laws related to retail theft, auto theft and trespass into an auto, drug trafficking, the proliferation of ghost guns (those without serial numbers), conditions of release and bail, pre-trial supervision, and pre-charge diversion.

Our most important initiative in the last biennium, however, was advocating for and obtaining an increase in resources for the criminal justice system. The boost in resources for the courts, prosecutors, defense counsel, and victim advocates paves the way for quicker and surer consequences for criminal activity, which are critical for deterring crime.

Data from the courts allows the legislature to measure their progress on resolving criminal cases. Clearance rates measure the number of new filings compared to the number of cases the courts dispose of each month. If the clearance rate is over 100%, that means the courts are making progress on reducing the backlog of cases that has clogged the courts and caused delays in disposing of cases. Through June of this year, Vermont courts have achieved a 12-month clearance rate of 110%. Although this shows improvement, it is still short of our goal of achieving a clearance rate of 125%. 

The courts also track how long it takes to resolve criminal cases and have set out specific goals for the length of time to disposition. For example, 98% of standard misdemeanor cases should be resolved in 180 days and 98% of standard felonies should be resolved in 365 days. At the end of 2023, approximately 60% of criminal cases met these timeliness standards. As of the end of June of this year, 70% of pending criminal cases met the timeliness standards.  This trend is in the right direction, but the consequences for many alleged criminal offenders are still far removed from the offense, diminishing their deterrence value. There is more work to be done.

This session, public safety continued to be one of the governor’s and legislature’s top priorities. The House Judiciary Committee again prioritized proper funding of the criminal justice system so our judicial system can keep improving how quickly it resolves cases. Although resources were more limited this year, the budget did include additional resources for courts, prosecutors, and the pre-charge diversion program created last year in Act 180. 

Beyond funding, this year the legislature passed other bills aimed at addressing public safety concerns, particularly related to domestic and sexual violence.

Act 46 revises Vermont’s civil protection order statutes to improve relief to victims of domestic violence, sexual violence, and stalking. Protection orders – civil court orders requested by a victim – are a critical legal tool. They offer important protective measures to prevent future harm, including requiring a perpetrator of violence to maintain physical distance from the individual they victimized.

The Act revises Vermont’s civil stalking order to better capture device-related stalking. The definition of “stalking” in Vermont’s civil stalking statute requires the victim to show the perpetrator’s “course of conduct” – meaning two or more acts over a period of time, no matter how short the time – to meet the threshold for obtaining a protection order. It was challenging to apply this definition in cases of device-related stalking. For example, when a device like an Airtag or a tracking app is set in place and then used to continuously monitor someone, it was not clear whether those activities met that definition of “course of conduct.” 

Act 46 now provides that a stalking victim may establish a perpetrator’s “course of conduct” by their “use of any electronic, digital, or precise geolocation device or software or application to surveil a specific person or a specific person’s internet or wireless activity continuously for 12 hours or more or on two or more occasions over a period of time, however short, without authorization.” 

Also under Act 46, courts can now grant temporary possession of a vehicle to the relief available in a domestic violence relief from abuse order. A vehicle can be a lifeline when escaping violence and leading an independent life immediately afterwards. Explicitly stated forms of relief available to victims included primary possession of a residence or pets, or custody of shared children. This law adds primary possession of a vehicle as a form of relief. 

Finally, Act 46 adds completion of a domestic violence accountability program to the forms of available relief listed in the domestic violence relief from abuse order statute. Domestic Violence Accountability Programs, commonly referred to as DVAPs, are community-based treatment programs designed to address the needs of people who use violence in their intimate partner relationships. DVAPs understand that abusive partners are, in most cases, capable of change, and these programs seek to modify behaviors and develop skills to prevent future abuse.

Many victims have reported that an accountability program to change behavior would be extremely helpful as part of a civil protection order. Victims may want to reduce the risk of violence for their shared children, a future partner, or themselves if they want to maintain the relationship.

Vermont has 12 community-based DVAPs that offer in-depth group programming and are certified by the Vermont Council on Domestic Violence. While DVAPs are not the sole vehicle for holding abusive partners accountable or changing behavior, they are a critical component to our response to domestic violence and can improve outcomes for both victims and those who have used violence against them.

The legislature also passed Act 12, which establishes procedures to ensure access to orders against sexual assault after regular court hours or on weekends. Prior to the passage of this law, survivors could only request a sexual assault protection order during regular court hours, leaving them at risk when assaults occur on evenings, weekends, or holidays. By ensuring that victims can access orders against sexual assault outside of regular court hours, the bill allows for swift action to protect them from further harm. In the next legislative session, starting in January 2026, the House Judiciary Committee will continue to monitor progress on improving public safety in Vermont. I anticipate that we will continue to review safety issues that occur when alleged offenders await trial, including those related to pre-trial conditions and bail, repeat offenders, and the pre-trial supervision program established last year. We will also continue to advocate for the appropriate resourcing of our criminal justice system and will seek other ways to reduce the time it takes to resolve criminal cases.

Mental Health in the Courts

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The following is my welcoming address delivered at the September 26 Summit of the Commission on Mental Health and the Judiciary.

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Thank you, Justice Reiber. It’s an honor to be here with all of you representing the legislative branch in the important work of mental health and substance use prevention and treatment. I appreciate the work of our Chief Justice in removing the silos from the three branches to bring all of us together to think through needs and celebrate successes. I’m thankful for the relationships with the executive branch and the work we do together throughout the legislative session. It’s imperative that the House and Senate continue working together to create policy that is informed by the expertise and experience of the judicial and executive branches and, most importantly, informed by the lived experiences of Vermonters.

This past year the House and Senate worked closely together to continue passing policy that not only invests in the growth of our workforce but also ensures that our providers have a safe working environment.

While the creation of a forensic facility has proved controversial, all three branches continued forward progress by enabling the Commissioner of Mental Health to seek treatment for individuals at a secure residential recovery facility, regardless of a previous order of hospitalization – while still keeping an open dialogue on future needs. We are also moving forward on a peer certification program for those interested, while not forcing certification on anyone.

Our collective work, and especially the legislative work, can sometimes take years to yield results. But we have seen many successes across the state, including programs established through the collaborative work of the Department of Mental Health, our providers, and the legislature. We have mental health urgent care homes opening in various regions of our state, including a partnership between UVMHN, Pathways Vermont, the Howard Center and Community Health Centers, opening an urgent care center in Burlington. Newport, too, has Front Porch, a mental health urgent care home.

Vermont now has a sustainable funding source for the 988 suicide and crisis line. We are implementing a statewide mobile crisis program to help people where they are. And the waiting period for firearms purchases that we established with Act 45 of 2023 has saved lives. All these initiatives are helping Vermonters obtain help before they enter the judicial system.

As Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, I have a particular perspective on mental health challenges.

When defendants are caught up in the criminal justice system because of an underlying mental health issue or substance use disorder, society is failing these individuals. We have not provided the supports or systems of care to keep them out of the criminal justice system. Indeed, in the past few years, we have seen a significant increase in the percentage of criminal defendants who present with mental health issues and substance use disorder.

We need to continue the work to help keep these individuals out of the criminal justice system.

But we must also help prosecutors, defenders, victim advocates, the courts, and other actors to address the current situation in the criminal justice system. We need to support efforts to address cases with defendants who have mental health issues, substance use disorder, or co-occurring disorders.

I’m pleased to report that Act 28, passed last year and relating to competency to stand trial and insanity as a defense, has helped alleviate some of the problem. That law has reduced the backlog of competency evaluations and shortened the time to obtain such evaluations. This year, Act 161 extends the permission for doctoral-level psychologists with training in forensic psychology to conduct the initial examination of a criminal defendant’s competency to stand trial. It also allows a psychiatrist or psychologist to testify remotely in such proceedings.

In the coming Biennium, the legislature may address the issue of competency restoration.  To that end, Act 137 directs the Agency of Human Services to submit a report to the General Assembly that provides a fiscal estimate for implementing a competency restoration program operated or under contract with the Department of Mental Health. I expect that in the upcoming Biennium, we will also be continuing to consider how to best serve victims of crimes perpetrated by individuals who are found to be incompetent to stand trial or not guilty by reason of insanity.

The legislature has also focused on shortening other delays in the criminal justice system. As you are undoubtedly aware, the Courts, prosecutors, and defenders are currently facing a significant backlog of cases due, in part, to the COVID pandemic. When the processing of cases involving those with mental health issues or substance use disorder are delayed, the individuals may not receive the treatment that they need in a timely manner. While treatment can be ordered as a pretrial condition of release, it is difficult to ensure that a defendant attends treatment during the pretrial period. It is critical that the courts and other actors in the criminal justice system shorten the time to disposition of such cases.

To help accomplish this, the legislature boosted the resources to the prosecutors, defenders, victim advocates, and courts, including three additional judges. This year, in Act 180, we also established a state-wide pre-trial diversion program under the Office of the Attorney General that should take some pressure off the courts and should also lead to quicker and often better outcomes. The program provides diversion to restorative justice processes, not to mental health or substance use treatment. But perhaps it can serve as a model or a starting point for diversion to treatment.

We will be monitoring the progress in clearing the backlog and shortening the time to disposition and will push for the necessary resources to the criminal and restorative justice systems to achieve speedier and just outcomes.

The criminal justice system should not be the place where we address mental health issues. Rather, to improve outcomes, we as a State need to provide more treatment opportunities. We also need to continue efforts to reduce food insecurity, inadequate housing, sexual and other abuses, and economic insecurity.

We also need to continue working together to understand the stressors facing all of you in the work you do every day. Your work is imperative to the lives of Vermonters, and we need to ensure your needs are being met.

In closing, and on behalf of the House and Senate, I thank you all for your work. The other legislators and I look forward to working with you to continue to make progress on addressing the challenges in our mental health and criminal justice systems.