Senate Judiciary hears data limits, definitions as S-12 (record sealing) moves forward

Montpelier, Vt. — Members of the Senate Judiciary committee on Feb. 18 heard researchers explain limits of Vermont’s criminal-justice data and the state’s official recidivism definition as the panel continued consideration of S-12, a bill that would affect sealing/expungement of records and researcher access to those records.

The presentation came from Monica Weber, executive director of the Scribe Research Group, and Dr. Robin Joliet, the group’s director of research. Weber said the Scribe Research Group compiled data across law enforcement, the judiciary and corrections to support policymaking and that federal Bureau of Justice Statistics funding supported much of the work. “I’m Monica Weber. I’m the executive director of the Scribe Research Group,” she told the committee. Joliet and Weber outlined how different datasets are created and where administrative records leave gaps.

The researchers told senators that Vermont’s formal, statutory recidivism definition adopted in 2011 — limited to people “sentenced to incarceration for one year or more who return to prison within three years for a conviction or for violation of supervision” — captures a small portion of people with criminal cases and can change with policy, not just behavior. “This is an entirely political creation so that you can compare across jurisdictions,” Weber said, explaining why many researchers use broader definitions when evaluating programs.

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