Joint Justice Oversight urges fixing victim-notification system before expanding earned time

The Joint Justice Oversight Committee on Nov. 21 recommended that Vermont not expand the Department of Corrections’ earned-time program to parolees or add educational credits as another pathway to sentence reduction until the state fixes persistent problems with its victim-notification system.

Ben Novogratzky of the Office of Legislative Counsel presented a draft letter summarizing the committee’s findings under Act 159 and the group’s conclusion that, "the earned time program should not expand to include parolees at this time," and that educational credits should not be added as a sentencing reduction pathway. The draft asks standing committees to review which entities — DOC, the Department of State's Attorneys and Sheriffs, the judiciary or the Center for Crime Victim Services — should be accountable for timely victim notification.

Jennifer Coleman, Executive Director of the Center for Crime Victim Services, told the committee survivors are deeply concerned that notification practices move goalposts after plea agreements and that, "they want certainty," describing how changing post-plea outcomes retraumatizes people who expected a stable resolution. Coleman said the current system is a "blunt tool" that often sends form letters that are not case-specific, are not trauma-informed and are difficult to read; she added materials are available only in Spanish but not in many other non-English languages spoken in Vermont.

Committee members repeatedly raised the operational question of who should enroll victims and at what stage. Several members urged the committee to acknowledge an existing ad hoc working group that is already examining gaps and to request the working group and standing committees take testimony and report back. The draft letter recommends either overhauling the vendor/provider or selecting a new provider to mitigate retraumatization and restoring a "menu" of notification options that lets victims choose how and when to be notified.

The committee’s recommendations do not change statute; they are being transmitted as a report to the Senate Committee on Judiciary and the House Committee on Corrections and Institutions for consideration in the upcoming session. The letter proposes that standing committees consider convening a working group or seeking testimony from the existing ad hoc group to produce a report and recommendations for legislative or administrative changes.

Next steps: the committee will finalize the letter and provide the recommendation and supporting testimony to the jurisdictional standing committees so they can consider statutory fixes, clarify which agencies or offices are responsible for enrollment, and pursue training and accessibility improvements for notification materials.