A bill introduced in the Legislature last week would modernize Vermont’s sexual assault laws to redefine consent and recognize that substance use is often a factor in sexual violence cases.
Rep. Sarah Copeland Hanzas, lead sponsor of the bill, H.183, said it’s become clear that alcohol and drug use is the “common thread” in a significant number of Vermont’s sexual assault cases. She said the state’s definition of consent needs to fully account for the fact that people who are intoxicated by drugs or alcohol can’t consent to sex.
“We will have a robust conversation, I’m sure, in the committee process about the definition of consent,” said Copeland Hanzas, D-Bradford. “I really believe that is one of the fundamentals here.”
Copeland Hanzas introduced the legislation at a press conference Wednesday afternoon with more than a dozen legislators and advocates for survivors of sexual violence who support updating the law.
The legislation would make four key changes: It would “revise and clarify” Vermont’s laws about consent; improve data collection on reported cases of sexual and domestic violence; establish a campus sexual harm task force; and fund the expansion of forensic medical care for sexual assault patients in primary care and reproductive health providers — a service now available only in hospitals.
Sarah Robinson, deputy director of the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, said that, in 2020, 17,000 Vermonters reached out for help with domsetic and sexual violence — but the actual number of Vermonters affected by this kind of crime is far greater.
National statistics show that, of every 1,000 sexual assaults, only 230 on average are reported to authorities. Of that number, only 46 lead to arrest, nine are referred to prosecution and five end up with a conviction. Even fewer result in jail time for perpetrators.
“We don’t know the myriad of reasons why those other people have not come forward with their story,” Copeland Hanzas said. “We need to know that.”
Once the state understands the point at which survivors decide not to pursue the case, it can focus on those problem areas to make the reporting process easier.
Copeland Hanzas said she expects to hear testimony about the cost, time and difficulty involved in that data collection — and thinks there’s a clear counterargument: Last year’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey reported that 9% of high school girls in Vermont have had “unwanted sex.”
“If people are going to push back about time and cost, I’m going to push back and say if that was your daughter, what would you want to do?” she said.
Washington County State’s Attorney Rory Thibault said the last time Vermont updated sexual assault laws “was a time when some of the rape myths we’ve dispelled today were still alive and well, with the conception that most sexual assaults involved a woman and a stranger.”
Years of research show that’s not the case, Thibault said. Most assaults involve friends or acquaintances. Reform is “probably overdue” for Vermont laws, he said.
Thibault said the language about consent in Vermont’s sexual assault laws is completely generic. In sexual assault cases, he said lawyers have to use the “unwieldy system” of looking back at court decisions, rather than the law itself, in making their arguments.
“Having to rely upon the ad hoc practice of drawing from old cases versus a clear statutory reference would be provided for under H.183,” Thibault said. “I think that’s a huge improvement to the system.”
Thibault said sexual assaults are among the most difficult cases his office prosecutes.
“Often, because there’s no physical evidence, all we have is a report from the victim, so these cases fall into a pattern that some people call ‘he said, she said,’ or different variations thereof,” Thibault said.
He said making Vermont’s laws more clear, and relevant to the actual cases that they see today could make a big difference — especially when it comes to the role that alcohol plays in consent.
“There is a big difference between someone with lowered inhibitions and someone who is past the point of consent,” Thibault said. “This isn’t radically transforming existing case law; it’s just providing a sharper, clearer, more consistent definition.”
The final aim of the bill involves forming a campus sexual assault task force. It wouldn’t be the first such committee in Vermont, but advocates hope this one could have a longer-term impact than previous efforts.
Rep. Selene Colburn, P-Burlington, said the state formed a short-term task force in 2019 on campus sexual assault, bringing together criminal justice, education officials, advocates and student survivors. Colburn sat on that task force, which she said only had six funded meetings.
“And one of the key findings we identified in those meetings was that there was a lot more work to do,” she said.
The new bill, by contrast, would form a permanent statewide college task force that could identify best practices for all Vermont college campuses, and pursue a long-term approach for solving the problem of sexual assault on campus.
The bill was initially read on Feb. 3 and referred to the House Judiciary Committee. The committee chair, Rep. Maxine Grad, D-Moretown, is a co-sponsor of the bill.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated Sarah Robinson’s position with the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence. She is deputy director.
