Racial Disparities in the Criminal and Juvenile Justice System Advisory Panel Report Released

Mark Hughes

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Download the Report here:

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A report was released by the Chair and Vice Chair of the Racial Disparities in the Criminal and Juvenile Justice System Advisory Panel last week.  The report, as outlined in ACT 54, 2017 provides updates on:

  1. A review of data collected pursuant to 20 V.S.A. §2366, to measure State progress toward a fair and impartial system of law enforcement; and
  2. Progress on educating and engaging with communities, businesses, educational institutions, State and local governments, and the general public about the nature and scope of racial discrimination in the criminal and juvenile justice system; and
  3. Progress on the recommendations from the 2016 report of the Attorney General’s Working Group on Law Enforcement Community Interactions.

This report provides recommendations to the Criminal Justice Training Council and the Vermont Bar Association on data collection and model trainings and policies for law enforcement, judges, correctional officers and attorneys, including prosecutors, to recognize and address implicit bias.  Also recommendations on data collection and a model training and policy on de-escalation and the use of force in the criminal and juvenile justice system are provided to the Criminal Justice Training Council.  Finally the report, includes various specific recommendations on addressing systemic implicit bias in Vermont’s criminal and juvenile justice system, including:

  1. How to institute a public complaint process to address perceived implicit bias across all systems of State government; and
  2. Whether and how to prohibit racial profiling, including implementing any associated penalties; and
  3. Whether to expand law enforcement race data collection practices to include data on non-traffic stops by law enforcement.

The Panel’s next meeting is on 13 March, 2018 at the Waterbury State Office Complex. Sally Fox Conference Center, from 6:00 – 8:00 PM.

The first of a number community discussions throughout the state are listed below:

March 11th and 18th at the Unitarian Church in Montpelier – 6:00 – 8:00 PM
March 12th and 27th at the CCTV Burlington (294 Winooski Avenue) – 6:00 – 8:00 PM

https://www.facebook.com/events/1750472371640285/ (Montpelier)
https://www.facebook.com/events/2082017761825295/ (Burlington)

3 V.S.A. § 168 established the Racial Disparities in the Criminal and Juvenile Justice System Advisory Panel in the Office of the Attorney General.  This report was provided to the Attorney General, the Human Rights Commission Executive Director, the House Speaker and the President Pro Tempe.  You can download the report, released 2 March, 2018 here.

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