Support child advocacy in Vermont
Voices for America’s Children
A network of state and local child advocacy organizations
Click here for newest national KIDS COUNT data report. See the status of children nationlly and state-by-state.
One Vermont
A coalition working to improve Vermonters’ lives by building strong public structures
32% of Vermont children live in low-income families (income below 200% of poverty level).
Juvenile Justice
Juvenile Justice
During the last few years, many Vermont communities, with the help of the state’s Juvenile Justice Commission formed in 2002, adopted what is called a “balanced and restorative justice” model for youth offenders. This model involves the victim and the community with the youth and justice professionals in the process of devising a reparative response to the offense. Research demonstrates that such alternative approaches are far superior to referring juveniles to adult court.
A report from the American Youth Policy Forum demonstrates that trying youth offenders in adult courts increases criminality. Youth offenders transferred to criminal court reoffend more often, and with more serious offenses, than those retained under juvenile jurisdiction.(1)
The report goes on to state that,
For youth who do not pose an immediate threat to public safety, most of the winning strategies work with young people in their own homes and communities, rather than institutions. They focus heavily on the family environment, both in responding to, and preventing, juvenile crime. Virtually all youth who become chronic delinquents exhibit behavior problems in early childhood. Fortunately, several intervention models have demonstrated strong success in reducing troublesome behavior among children with conduct problems. Other studies have found that positive impacts from such programs remained for 10–14 years after treatment.
Presently in Vermont sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds accused of certain crimes are charged in the adult system. It is up to the state’s attorneys to request that the youth be transferred to the juvenile system. Not only does this put pressure on overworked states’ attorneys, it increases the risk of the youth falling through the cracks, ending up in the adult system, and staying there.
Vermont’s system of juvenile justice received a boost from the federal government in the late 1990s and early twenty-first century with the receipt of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grants. The funding was used, among other things, to implement the restorative justice model providing alternatives to detention, competency training, and restitution programs. As of FY 04, the federal funds were eliminated. It will fall on the state legislature and the governor to compensate for this loss with resources and state dollars.
Notes
1. See Richard A. Mendel, “Less Hype, More Help, Reducing Juvenile Crime, What Works—And What Doesn’t,” American Youth Policy Forum, Child Welfare League of America, Coalition for Juvenile Justice, National Collaboration for Youth, National Crime Prevention Council, National League of Cities, and National Urban League, June 2000.
