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Victim advocates tell committee VINE notifications, earned-time alerts need fixes, clearer notice and more resources
Summary
Jennifer Pullman of the Vermont Center for Crime Victim Services told the committee that VINE notification letters are often unreadable or mismatched, language support is limited, and victims should be able to opt in to regular earned-time notifications; committee members volunteered to work with the center and DOC to produce recommendations.
Jennifer Pullman, director of the Vermont Center for Crime Victim Services, told the Corrections & Institutions Committee on Feb. 12 that Vermont's victim-notification system is underused and in some cases sends notices that are hard to read, in the wrong case, or available only in Spanish when other languages are needed.
"The system, as you heard, mentioned last week, only accommodates Spanish speaking and does not accommodate currently any other languages," Pullman told the committee. She added that many victims prefer simple, plain-language notices and the option to choose how often they receive updates: "For some victims ... I want to know each month if that person is getting time off. It makes me feel safer if I have this knowledge."
Pullman and committee members discussed earned time — the statutory mechanism by which people in custody may reduce a…
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