MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – Vermont Democratic lawmakers are at odds with the governor over the implementation of a juvenile justice law known as “Raise the Age.”
Vermont in 2020 became the first state to pass the “Raise the Age” law, classifying 18-year-olds as juveniles in the criminal justice system. It’s based on emerging science that brain development isn’t complete until well into someone’s 20s and that mistakes earlier in life should not permanently hobble future opportunities. The law was supposed to expand to 19-year-olds in 2022 and in subsequent years go up to age 21, but lawmakers and the governor two years ago agreed to push back the start to give the state more time to open a secure facility for youthful offenders.
But a new report to Vermont lawmakers this week says the law is not overwhelming the family court system. “We now have research that we didn’t before,” Columbia University researcher Lael Chester told lawmakers Wednesday. He presented new data showing juvenile delinquency caseloads involving 18-year-olds has stayed steady and even declined since the law began. “We don’t know for sure what is at play, but Vermont take credit. Take credit where credit is due. You have already implemented 18-year-olds. Then, look at these charts, that is very impressive.”
However, the Department for Children and Families contends the data Chester used is incomplete. They also say staff shortages in DCF and a lack of secure facilities since the closure of Woodside in 2020 are putting pressure on the system.
“What we’re looking at is the system as a whole,” said DCF Commissioner Chris Winters. “We want to do this but we want to do it in a way where we can implement it successfully and we’re not in a position to do that right now.”
Governor Phil Scott, who has made clamping down on crime a priority, paints a similarly bleak picture. For the third year in a row, he is asking lawmakers to delay bringing 19-year-olds into the system. “I don’t think we’re ready for it. I think we have to take a step back to make sure we know what we’re doing,” Scott said Wednesday.
Senate President Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden County, and other top Democrats say the Scott administration should be doing more to put the law into effect. “It does feel as though we are not necessarily being constrained by the system and its shortfalls but by a policy decision made administration-wide,” Baruth said.
A secure facility in Middlesex is opening up soon but it’s only temporary. At the same time, DCF is now backing off of plans to open a home for troubled teen boys in Newbury and instead planning to build a 14-bed facility in the Chittenden County area in the next two years.
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