Governor's legal counsel outlines public‑safety package to Judiciary Committee, seeks changes to youth jurisdiction and accountability tools

Jay Pershing Johnson, legal counsel to Governor Phil Scott, told the Senate Judiciary Committee the administration’s public‑safety package aims to strengthen accountability and improve connections to treatment without proposing new crimes or higher penalties.

Johnson said the package’s principal elements would: (1) repeal the automatic inclusion of 19‑year‑olds in the juvenile/family‑court jurisdiction and instead revise youthful‑offender procedures to close what the administration calls an “accountability gap”; (2) revise bail‑revocation standards so courts and prosecutors can more effectively revoke release for defendants who reoffend or repeatedly violate conditions; (3) propose universal sealing for qualifying records that preserves access for criminal‑justice and legally required background checks; (4) limit courts’ authority to reduce or suspend sentences for people convicted of multiple violent crimes; (5) authorize law enforcement to honor extradition waivers executed as conditions of release in other states; (6) revise recidivism metrics and reporting; and (7) pursue expansion and funding for pretrial supervision, treatment links and public inebriate/crisis mental‑health beds.

Johnson told the committee…