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Committee hearing on recidivism definitions: witnesses urge tailored metrics and more agency coordination
Summary
Experts and state officials told the Judiciary committee that the current statutory recidivism definition is limited, the Department of Corrections lacks the data systems to produce a conviction-based metric as proposed, and lawmakers should adopt tailored metrics per policy question rather than a single, fixed legal definition.
Witnesses and agency officials told the Judiciary committee that the proposed change to Vermont’s statutory definition of recidivism (H.410 / draft referenced as H4 10) would better reflect convictions than the current incarceration‑based metric, but that shifts in data sources and more interagency coordination are required before a new definition could be operationalized.
Dr. Robin Joy, director of research at Prime Research Group, testified that the state’s current statutory definition arose from an historical decision to allow Department of Corrections (DOC) reporting using DOC’s management system; that definition excludes many people who never receive incarceration sentences and therefore undercounts repeat offending. “Nobody uses it and nobody would use your current…
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