A panel of state law enforcement officers, prosecutors and public defenders is recommending that Vermont dramatically expand expungement laws so that ex-offenders convicted of the vast majority of the state’s felony crimes can eventually scrub their criminal histories.
The proposal, which was forwarded to lawmakers by Vermont’s Sentencing Commission two weeks ago, would create pathways for people convicted of any nonviolent felonies to erase their criminal charges and block records of their court proceedings from the public.
The proposal, which will be taken up by legislators in January, comes after Vermont officials already moved to broaden expungement laws this year.
In May, Gov. Phil Scott signed a bill that added misdemeanors and 14 nonviolent felony crimes — including drug possession charges — to the list of offenses that can be expunged.
But the commission’s latest expungement proposal would take the reform much further, and add dozens of additional nonviolent felonies and misdemeanors to the list.
According to James Pepper, the deputy state’s attorney at the Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs and a member of the commission, said the proposal would make Vermont’s expungement reform the broadest in the country.
If the recommendation became law, only about 30 violent felonies and four misdemeanors would no longer be eligible for expungement, he said.
People convicted of crimes including drug trafficking, non-violent burglary and theft would be able to remove their convictions years after their sentencing.
Under the proposal, “property” crimes, such as felony theft offenses would be eligible for sealing 10 years after sentencing. They could be expunged 10 years after the sealing.
Proponents of the reform say expanding expungement eligibility helps remove the hurdle convicted criminals face in finding employment opportunities years after they committed an offense.
“When you think about Vermont and our declining population, we need every able-bodied person who can work to work,” Pepper said.
“We don’t need to create these artificial barriers for them through criminal records that are old.”
Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Wednesday that he plans on taking up and passing the expungement reform next year.
While he says lawmakers may tweak the details of the commission’s proposal, he agrees that the scope of the state’s expungement policies need to be broadened.
“I do think there’s tremendous value to giving people an opportunity to get their records expunged both for them and for society,” Sears said.
“After a certain amount of time, there’s no difference between an ex-offender and the average citizen in terms of committing new crimes.”
Vermont Legal Aid, which has been conducting expungement clinics across the state, is also pushing lawmakers to eliminate a requirement that ex-offenders pay outstanding administrative court fees to be eligible to remove their convictions.
In the first five months of 2019, out of the roughly 250 expungement cases Vermont Legal Aid took on, 25% of the people seeking to wipe their convictions couldn’t because they had outstanding administrative fees they could not afford.
Court officials are pushing back, arguing that the fee in question, a $147 fine imposed on anyone convicted of a crime in Vermont, brings needed revenue into the state’s criminal justice system.
Chief Superior Court Judge Brian Grearson told the Joint Justice Oversight Committee on Wednesday that he doesn’t believe it’s necessary to pave the way for ex-offenders to both expunge and seal their criminal convictions.
He believes that sealing records alone will do enough to ensure that ex-offenders can find employment, and that expanding expungement in addition will mean mounting administrative expenses for the state’s judicial system.
“I don’t know what’s gained by expungement that isn’t available through sealing,” he said.
But Mairead O’Reilly, an attorney with Vermont Legal Aid, said that allowing people to expunge their records and remove their convictions is an essential part of the process.
She said that without the ability to erase the charge completely, law enforcement officials will be able to use old criminal convictions to make unfair judgements about citizens.
“We really don’t want law enforcement to look at these records and think that they mean something when they don’t,” she said.
Correction: Vermont Legal Aid took on 250 expungement cases in the first five months of 2019, not 60 as originally reported.
