by Martin Green

Morristown held its second community Crime and Concerns meeting at the People’s Academy auditorium this past Monday night. The first meeting was in late August, 2023. The second iteration of this conversation featured a panel on the stage comprised of a variety of folks who made comments from their particular realms of experience, and also fielded questions from the audience.

Det. Lt. Todd Baxter of the Morristown Police Department served as moderator. Also present were Chief Jason Luneau, also representing the Morristown PD; Lamoille County Sheriff Roger Marcoux; Lamoille County interim state’s attorney, Aliana Gierhard; Senator Richard Westman; Representatives Avram Patt and Saudia Lamont; physician Katy Marvin, M.D.; and Ember Power of Lamoille County Mental Health.

Unfortunately, my perception is that it seems we were talking apples and oranges. Let me explain.

The major reason the first public forum held in August, and then again this past Monday, is because of crimes, the majority of which had already been committed, and continue to be committed, by serial offenders who keep being released onto the streets to commit more crimes. The audience who attended in August was tasked by Det. Lt. Baxter to honestly identify who is responsible for such lax legislation, hold them accountable, and then come to the next community forum with some solutions.

At Monday’s forum, a great deal of emphasis was placed on prevention by some of the panelists, and several in the audience rhetorically inquired as to why can’t we just try to be “better humans,” and why do certain people break the law?

At the risk of sounding ridiculously obvious, it’s because they are lawbreakers. 

As far as prevention, the problem goes back to the very first two people on earth who were given a very simple command or rule, yet chose to break that one. And then their first two sons couldn’t get along, so the older one killed the younger because he was jealous and angry at him. 

Ever since that time, we have been breaking rules and killing each other because of jealousy and anger. I want what you have, and I will break the law and even hurt or kill you to take it.

If we want to solve those two problems— which are the source of all crime—there is only one answer. It is not by trying to be better, nicer, kinder, gentler humans. Certainly, there is nothing wrong with acting that way towards each other. In fact, we ought to, and our laws are intended to keep us all within the rails of civil and respectful behavior towards one another, and for the most part do keep us from chaos and anarchy. 

But the problem is that no matter where any of us is on the spectrum of behavior, with nice on one end, and really nasty being on the other, the core of who we are is corrupt beyond our even being able to understand the depths of that corruption. With the free will each of us has, we choose to think and do nasty things to others. 

Now, for the majority of us, those nasty thoughts and behavior won’t lead to us doing something which will cause us to be arrested or incarcerated. And for most of the rest of us, perhaps we just haven’t been caught. 

The real issue is having to deal with the aftermath of crime and those who have already broken the rules to such an extent that they now need to be arrested and/or incarcerated. If I’m not mistaken, that’s what a huge emphasis of the first Crime and Concern meeting was about, and this was evident by the high level of anger and frustration expressed by folks who attended the meeting. In my perception, it was not as much about preventing crime per se, as it was about the dangers posed to our community from those who already had committed/were committing crimes and not receiving consequences and penalties swift or stern enough to get them off the streets and behind bars.  

When Jesus Christ was asked what the greatest law or rule was, He said this:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Later on, He took it a step further by instructing His disciples to love others as He had loved them. 

May I submit to you that the answers to the two questions which were raised at Monday night’s meeting are found right there, and ALL of our bad behavior and ALL our failure to deal kindly and decently with our neighbor (anyone we interact with regardless of geographic location), stems from breaking those two commandments, or rules, or laws. 

Those words that Jesus said—when we actually practice them—are the key to being better, kinder humans, and are the greatest form of prevention that has ever been and ever will be offered to lower the crime rate. It is also the greatest, deepest, and most enduring mode of restorative justice.

In other words, if I really love God as I claim to, I’m going to express that love by behaving kindly and not doing bad things to other people. When any part of that equation is missing, somebody gets hurt or ripped off. 

Truly practicing with all our heart, soul, and mind these words Jesus said will also cost taxpayers a whole lot less money for law enforcement, court costs, and corrections. 

But the strategies and tactics of legislators (and state’s attorneys who went to law school for the express purpose of “dismantling the system,” as Chittenden SA Sarah George openly declared she did) who are steeped in Marxist and socialist ideologies and worldviews are doomed to failure and have never truly brought about transformed societies, because they erroneously believe that we can change people by changing societal conditions, rather than transforming and reforming society when people’s hearts are transformed by love and the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

So, even if we’re Jewish, we can still practice those words Jesus said because He was actually quoting from the Old Testament the commandments Moses gave to God’s people. In fact, it really doesn’t matter what religion we identify with, or even if we claim no religion. Truly putting into practice and living out those words of Moses and Jesus, given by God Himself, go a long, long way in both the prevention of crime and in instructing us how to be better humans. 

But these legislators wrongly believe that bad societal conditions create criminals–and therefore continue to treat criminals as oppressed victims–instead of honestly acknowledging that criminals and all those who do not respect the rule of law are the ones who are contributing to bad societal conditions. 

In the Old Testament, even after the people of Israel had been exiled into an unfamiliar and hostile environment and a society whose conditions were abysmal, they were directed by God through the prophet Jeremiah not to conform to that degradation nor to despair by seeing themselves as helpless, oppressed victims of bad societal conditions, but to do this:

”And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.”

Jeremiah 29:7 NLT

The word “welfare” used here is from the Hebrew definition–shalom–and not modern parlance.

“And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.”

Jeremiah 29:7 KJV

That’s all our job, whether we’re a legislator, police officer, prosecutor, pastor, judge, cashier, cook, firefighter, farmer, or chambermaid. We each live in a great community and country which doesn’t promise to give everyone everything we think we deserve, but does provide the opportunity to pray and work for the peace and prosperity of that city or town in which we find ourselves. 

There are scores of folks, such as Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver, to name but a few, who couldn’t have been raised under worse societal conditions, but who chose not to make excuses, blame society, nor expect society to make things better for them. They worked diligently with the meager resources they had and took every opportunity to better themselves, not only for their own success, but also in order to pray and work for the peace and prosperity of the city in which they found themselves and for the advancement of countless other folks and society at large. 

It’s no different today. As long as we blame society, we give lawbreakers a pass and confine them to perpetual oppressed and victim status. And when they are treated that way, they will see themselves as such, believe society owes them, and in their jealousy, anger, and entitlement mentality will continue to make other people their victims. 

Of course, we don’t turn a blind eye or pretend that bad societal conditions don’t exist. The worst of all societal conditions in our country right now, and the one with the harshest, saddest, and most tragic repercussions, is fatherless children and families. 

The purpose of my letter is not to elaborate here on what has contributed to that societal dynamic. That’s for another place and time. 

Suffice it to say that of all factors, the role fathers are meant to have in loving, instructing, guiding, and being good examples for their children cannot be overstated. When men are irresponsible and impregnate women outside of marriage and without being in the home as a faithful husband and dad who is committed to and invested in his marriage, children, and family, we have the breeding ground for an unhealthy society. No, it does not make anyone break the law and commit crime, but it does create a vacuum which lawlessness will more easily seek to fill. 

I believe the reason for the first Crime and Concern meeting last August and the one this past Monday night was because we are all feeling the dramatic effects in our community of criminals and those who don’t respect the rule of law not having stern enough consequences and penalties imposed upon them. In fact, the message being sent to them through what has become an impotent judicial system created by legislators who continue to treat criminals as oppressed victims, is that crime does, in fact, pay. 

If prevention employed with the tactics and strategies of legislators—who want to soften consequences by simply decriminalizing and legalizing what has for millennia been known to be fundamentally immoral and wrong and unlawful behavior—really worked on a large scale basis, crime would have ended or been dramatically reduced a long time ago. In a best case scenario, even if we could identify and help those who break the law BEFORE they break the law AND who want to be helped, we still have those pesky ones who elude the radar, do not want to be helped, don’t want to change, and most likely will never change apart from a miraculous intervention and heart transformation by the love of God. And for that transformation to happen, it takes humility, the willingness to admit wrongdoing, and taking responsibility for one’s wrong heart and actions. That’s where true and enduring restorative justice begins. 

Back to apples and oranges. Prevention is wonderful and should be the norm when guided by love for God and love for our neighbor. Even when we can help those who want it before they break the law, we still have the situation which initiated the community Crime and Concern conversation in the first place: the dangers and harm experienced by our community when prevention didn’t work or was even known to be applied, and yet still the property, lives, and safety of the victims of lawbreakers and criminals has already been stolen, killed, damaged, or destroyed. 

Unfortunately, it’s that percentage of criminals and their victims we’re dealing with. 

As I voiced publicly on Monday night, and in my emails recently to legislators and the Morrisville PD, let’s craft new conditions of release and make new legislation which puts in jail those who are arrested more than once in a 24-168 hour period. As Aliana Gierhard suggested Monday night, we could even propose a constitutional amendment to do something like that. Is that the best solution? I don’t know, but we surely demonstrated that we can pass constitutional amendments in Vermont through referenda as proven by passing two of them on November 8, 2022. 

Get them off the streets. Make strict laws and consequences. You may not like this phrase, but there is something called retributive justice which is meant to be a deterrent to the offender receiving stern penalties and to potential offenders who see that they’re not going to get away without severe consequences should they choose to break the law. 

Unfortunately, the supermajority in our legislature seems to think that we can make crime go away by simply decriminalizing immoral and illegal behavior. How ridiculous and foolish! And yet our legislators are doing this across the board. Have they lost their senses? This is insanity. It’s like proposing a bill which decriminalizes murder or robbery because, well, you know, so many people are doing it anyway. If we just decriminalize it, that’ll make the problem go away. Think that’s absurd? Look what they’re doing with prostitution, drug abuse, and drug dealing. And yet, they are seeking to ban certain types of firearms because those are the types most likely to jump off of shelves and out of gun cabinets and trunks of cars to automatically shoot people. But in doing so, they’ll prevent law-abiding citizens who might use one of those kinds of firearms to protect their home and family from those who will obtain those “evil” types of guns to hurt and kill them. 

I am 100% for prevention. Let’s use every resource at our disposal to help prevent crime. But what kind of message is our legislature sending to those with substance use disorders when they simply decriminalize, legalize, or otherwise make it very easy for them to continue in their addictive behavior? How does that double standard does help them?

And back to the greatest form of prevention: the gospel and the love of Jesus Christ. It has always been in the times of the worst societal darkness and decline that spiritual revivals and awakenings have come. It’s evident through the pages of the Bible, as well as through the annals of world history. The reformation of whole cities, societies, and countries came about through the transformation of people, one heart at a time. It always came and will always come when we each humble ourselves, pray, seek God’s presence, turn from our wicked ways, and repent. He then promises, when those conditions are met, to hear us, forgive us, and heal us—individually and as a society. This is where true peace originates: first between me and God, and then between me and my neighbor.

The solution is not justice OR mercy, but justice AND mercy. The Bible is clear that forgiveness is always freely available to those who sincerely repent. We must always be guided by compassion, but sometimes the most compassionate thing we can do for a person is to administer expedient and stern justice to cause him or her to see that there is accountability and there are consequences. And justice is not served, nor are victims shown compassion, when unrepentant offenders are not treated as their crimes deserve. 

But please hear me and understand that I’m not talking about revenge, vengeance, or vigilante justice, nor am I referring to cruel and unusual punishment. I’m talking about proportional consequences and punishment which fit the crime. As interim SA Gierhard stated Monday night, swift and stringent habitual offender sentencing would do wonders in removing from the streets those who care not one whit for our laws or human life. 

But then why do we read week after week in the court report that nearly every case has some aspect of it “dismissed at the prosecution’s request?” And that nearly every sentence is suspended except for a few days and probation, and hardly anyone is going to jail? It sounds like Judge Mary Morrissey is certainly trying to quickly reduce the backlog of cases, but is it at the expense of justice being administered and appropriate consequences really having an impact on those who have been convicted?

I also think there should be incrementally and  progressives longer jail terms for every successive DUI conviction. When drunk/drugged drivers have maimed and killed innocent people, prevention is then a moot point, and they simply have to suffer the consequences of their irresponsible and negligent behavior. Provide them alcohol or drug counseling, but inside prison walls through the vast array of human and social services available in Vermont. 

Why don’t some of our legislators who propose legislation to selectively ban certain types of “evil” guns also propose legislation to ban certain types of “evil” cars, based on say, horsepower, or color, or engine size? I’m being facetious here, but I’m trying to make the point that if they’re being completely consistent in their logic, motor vehicles with drunk/drugged drivers behind the wheel are very large weapons with horrifically destructive capacity.

If you’ve read this far, thank you. I know this was very long. But I believe that what I’ve tried to express here highlights the futility of blaming society instead of blaming criminals and failing to hold them accountable by penalties stern enough to both get them off the streets where they can’t steal things and hurt people anymore, and to be a strong deterrent to them and others against future criminal behavior. That being said, behavior modification can only go so far. It is hearts that have truly been transformed by God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness which will be the most enduring form of prevention and the best guide in how we are to love our neighbor and work for the peace we all long to have in our community.