Will Vt. lawmakers adopt governor's call to crack down on crime

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Public Safety is a focus for Vermont lawmakers at the Statehouse this session. It comes amid calls from Governor Phil Scott to “solidify Vermont as the safest state in the country.”

Governor Phil Scott urged lawmakers during his recent state and budget address to reexamine criminal justice reform efforts and instead address growing concerns about public safety.

“We already have some agreement in this area, so let’s make sure our laws aren’t doing more harm than good,” Scott said.

Essex Police Chief Ron Hoague is among law enforcement agencies statewide that say they’re seeing a rise in property crime. He points to a revolving door of repeat offenders who are oftentimes out on court-ordered conditions of release.

“Allowing folks to just go free and continue violating their conditions of release – that I believe in my opinion is why we’re seeing some of the continued crime going on,” Hoague said.

A recent example he pointed to in Chittenden County is 23-year-old Tyshawn Lee, who is accused of fleeing from police and holding two people hostage at a Burlington bar last week.

The Winooski man has had more than 100 run-ins with law enforcement, according to the Burlington Police, including violent felonies. “There are folks that need to be behind bars and to keep the people of Vermont safe, we have to recognize that as well,” Hoague said.

Governor Phil Scott is calling for lawmakers to revisit two bills he signed into law — the state’s 2018 bail reform law which set the bail cap for certain misdemeanors at $200, and the 2020 “Raise the Age” law that allows some young adult offenders to be prosecuted as juveniles. “I wish I had better anticipated the challenge of implementing laws to raise the age of criminal accountability because we weren’t ready,” Scott said.

But not everyone is on board with the governor’s proposals. Falko Schilling with the ACLU of Vermont says the state shouldn’t revert back to a crime and punishment model.

“We know, as a society, locking people up for longer is not going to make us safer. A lot of the crime we’re hearing about are often crimes of desperation, and what we need to do is address those root causes of crime, things like wealth inequality, lack of housing, lack of supports and services,” he said.

House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Martin LaLonde, D-South Burlington, says the Legislature is working on bills to address retail theft by allowing multiple misdemeanor charges to be combined into a felony and increasing the funding for state’s attorneys and defense offices in order to address the court backlog, but he says they’re also working to make investments in alternatives. “It struck me in the budget address that there was a lot of talk about juvenile justice and the crime that’s happening and there was no talk whatsoever about the resources that we’re putting toward this,” he said.

LaLonde says the Legislature is looking at expanding restorative justice programming and pre-trial diversion and reinstating the Department of Corrections work crew program which DOC ended last year.