If courts and correction officials knew more about offenders, the result could be a reduction in probation violations that can send people to jail, according to a proposal now in the Legislature.
The bill, H.20, calls for a pilot project in courts to prepare a report on people about to be sentenced to probation on felony charges. The report would explore what the person needs so they can stay out of trouble, avoid violating the conditions of probation, and not be sent to jail.
The Senate Judiciary Committee recommended 5-0 in a video vote Tuesday that the Senate approve it.
When a person is sentenced to prison or furlough, the Department of Corrections may conduct a presentence investigation, looking at the needs and risk of an offender.
However, if the offender’s not going to jail, but will be placed on probation — with regular check-ins with a probation officer, and conditions that ban problematic behavior — there’s no presentence investigation. As a result, their needs — from mental health care to substance use disorder treatment — are not taken into account.
“There needs to be better assessments for mental health and substance use prior to sentencing,” David D’Amora of the Council of State Governments’ Justice Center told lawmakers last fall.
The bill taken up Tuesday calls for corrections and court staff, state’s attorneys, the Vermont Attorney General’s Office, and public defenders to conduct the pilot project in one or two criminal courts and report to lawmakers by Dec. 1, 2022, on how well things worked.
“The report shall recommend whether the pilot project should be made permanent throughout the state,” the bill states. The pilot project committee will decide which county or counties to conduct the study.
According to a three-year study by the Council of State Governments’ Justice Center, 20% of prison admissions were the result of probation violations.
In the pilot project, presentence reports to a judge will look at the risk that the offender will reoffend, examine criminal history, and screen for mental health and substance use issues.
Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, the committee chair, said Tuesday that the legislation stems from a reform measure that lawmakers passed and Gov. Phil Scott signed last year. It is known as “Justice Reinvestment II.”
If the pilot project has early success, Sears asked what would happen if there were calls to expand the idea to more courts in the state.
“Is there the ability to do it sooner?” he asked about expanding the project.
Sen. Jeanette White, D-Windham, a committee member, said nothing in the legislation would prevent it, and the pilot project committee could report back to lawmakers anytime before Dec. 1, 2022.
The initiative builds on a model that was tried years earlier, and is looking for ways to improve the parole, probation and furlough systems to keep people out of prison if they don’t really need to be there.
Reforms passed last session included giving inmates greater ability to challenge efforts to revoke their furloughs.
