This commentary is by Nikhil Goyal, a sociologist at the University of Vermont and founder of the Treat Youth Like Youth coalition, and by Kerry Kennedy, an activist, attorney and the president of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights.
A few years ago, an 18-year-old Vermont boy was struggling to cope with the death of a friend while working a shift at a gas station. All he wanted to do was return home and grieve. He didn’t own a car, and nobody was able to pick him up apart from a family friend who offered to give him a ride if he covered the gas expense.
In a moment of desperation and lacking the necessary cash, he pumped gas into his friend’s car, closed up the station, and left without paying. His boss discovered his actions and called the police. He was arrested and charged with retail theft.
In any other state in the country, he would have been prosecuted in adult criminal court. His hearings would have been open to the public. If convicted, he would have a criminal record, derailing his chances of future employment.
But thanks to Vermont’s historic “Raise the Age” law, this individual was sent to family court instead. The law allows children and young adults up to their 20th birthday who are accused of misdemeanors and less serious felonies to be tried in juvenile court.
He was asked about the circumstances surrounding his offense, and he was encouraged to make amends. He ultimately apologized for his behavior, paid back the gas station and finally received the mental health treatment that he had been lacking. His misdemeanor was on the path to getting sealed. (The information here about his story and case come from his lawyer.)
Stories such as this one show the positive impact of Raise the Age. The law has had a phased rollout since its initial passage in 2018, with 18-year-olds added to the juvenile justice system in 2020. Since then, the total number of juvenile delinquency cases has actually declined — even after this new age demographic was incorporated into family court.
The 18-year-old discussed at the beginning of this piece, and others like him, have received individualized treatment and care, and Vermont has avoided the taxpayer expenses it would have incurred had it plunged more young people into the adult correctional system.
But despite the overall success of the legislation, the implementation of Raise the Age’s second phase, which would bring 19-year-olds into the family court, has been delayed several times. H.2, which delays Raise the Age a fourth time until July 1, 2027, passed both chambers and was signed by Gov. Scott.
With repeal off the table, we have two years to prepare for the phase-in of 19-year-olds. One of the leading arguments for a pause was that the Department for Children and Families did not have sufficient resources to implement the law. Now, the Legislature has the utmost responsibility to hold DCF accountable and invest in additional family services workers and other staffing and expand restorative justice and other community-based programs.
The Legislature should also require DCF to report on the demographics and offenses of the 18-year-old offenders who have been served in family court due to Raise the Age, the types of programs these youth have participated in and the outcomes of their cases. We have the time to examine what has gone well, identify gaps in programming and staffing and make the necessary improvements for this emerging young adult population. There should be no excuses come July 2027.
In the next two years, Vermont should also study the work of our international allies. Since 1953, Germany has been treating people under 21 who have committed nonviolent and violent offenses as juveniles with significantly lower recidivism rates than the U.S.
Moreover, Norway’s age of criminal responsibility is 15, and it is rare for a juvenile to be incarcerated, with most offenders receiving fines and community probation. The nation’s restorative justice approach to juvenile offenders, which involves a victim-offender meeting and a youth action plan, can offer lessons to Vermont’s Balanced and Restorative Justice program.
More than a dozen Vermont and national civil rights and criminal justice reform organizations and advocates joined our Treat Youth Like Youth coalition, signing onto a letter calling on the Vermont Legislature to support the implementation of Raise the Age. Our coalition includes the top juvenile justice officials who previously served at the Department of Justice under three presidents: John Rector, who served under President Jimmy Carter; Shay Bilchik, who served under President Bill Clinton; and Liz Ryan, who served under President Joe Biden.
We are committed to rehabilitating, not criminalizing, young people and supporting Vermont in making Raise the Age a success for 19-year-olds. Raise the Age is both fiscally responsible and anti-crime. The investments that Vermont makes in juvenile justice will continue to pay dividends in the long term: fewer arrests, fewer cases clogging courts, fewer people in adult jails and prisons, and safer communities.
Vermont was the first state in the nation to abolish slavery. It was the first state to legalize same-sex civil unions. And it was the first state to Raise the Age of juvenile court jurisdiction to include young adults. As Vermont goes, so goes the nation. We can show the United States that we can be smart on crime by treating youth like youth.
