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State’s Attorneys trying to push back the rising tide of crime with a broom.
by Rob Roper
No doubt the defund the police movement has been devastating for Burlington and other communities throughout Vermont as our once safest in the nation state has seen an unprecedented and undesirable rise in crime. But while “Defund the Police!” has gotten all the headlines and protest placards (cue Law & Order theme music), “In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the police, who investigate crime; AND [emphasis added] the district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders.” And, yes, this is their story.
In testimony to the House Judiciary Committee, the State’s Attorneys cited the challenge they are facing, including a rise in violent crime and homicides in the state (twenty or more homicide victims in each of the last three years), a rise in drug trafficking driven by out of state criminal networks, and rising mental health issues in the criminal class that can complicate prosecution.
There are fourteen elected State’s Attorneys in Vermont with a total staff (not just lawyers) of about 137 people. They are dealing with, according to a report submitted to the House Judiciary Committee 23,134 active cases. Not a typo.
That translates into:
Each SA [State’s Attorney] and Deputy SA is carrying a caseload of approximately 350 cases. Each SAS Victim Advocate is carrying approximately 600 cases. Between CY2023 through CY2024, SAS prosecutors cleared 3000 backlog cases, and the average clearance rate for the criminal docket (December ’23 to December ’24) was 109%, which means 9% more cases than filed during that same period. However, the backlog still remains….
In 2024, the average monthly filings of criminal cases were 1,150, and 81 pending Post Conviction Release cases….
At the end of 2024, SAS had 1,000 pending juvenile delinquency cases, 399 youthful offenders cases, and 1,158 CHINS [Child in Need of Service] cases.
To deal with this, the Department pleaded for additional staff in the form of prosecutors (4), victim advocates (6), paralegals (6), administrative support (6), and ten other positions covering IT support to help transporting criminals.
While these requests didn’t fall entirely on deaf ears, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are prioritizing something called a pre-charge diversion program, which refers those who commit low-level crimes to community providers of restorative justice, rather than court. Well, that’s one way to reduce the number of cases: don’t charge people who commit crimes! That’ll work!
The State’s Attorneys also asked for help from the Attorney General’s office in picking up more of the load than the 78 cases – out of 23,134 – they are currently prosecuting. Nope! AG Charity Clark in an hour of testimony made it clear is too busy suing the Trump Administration to do anything about maintaining public safety in our state. (Suggestion to legislators: pass a law compelling her office to do more to reduce crime in Vermont.)
One statistic that really jumped out was regarding repeat offenders.
At the end of 2024, there were 667 individuals with 5 or more pending cases that represented 5,307 total cases – essentially 23% of the total workload. There are 17 individuals with 20 or more pending cases representing 473 pending cases, and 149 individuals with 10 or more pending cases representing 2,135 cases.
Um… Lock these people up? Maybe? That might be a start.
A serious problem we have in Vermont on many fronts, law enforcement being just one of them, is that the Left’s policies are more often than not grounded in unreality. Their underlying philosophy on crime is that if we stop enforcing the law or attaching any meaningful penalties to people who break the law, the lawbreakers will somehow conclude that society is nice, and thus treat society nicely in return, mending their felonious ways. They believe the presence of rules are oppressive and unfair and serve as the catalyst driving oppressed to break the rules, and if you just remove the rules and their enforcement mechanisms, well, problem solved!
This is, of course, idiotic. As it turns out if you don’t prosecute people for stealing less than $900 worth of stuff, they’ll steal $899 worth of stuff. If you don’t prosecute juveniles for dealing drugs, gangs will recruit juveniles and send them to your state to deal drugs, homicides resulting. (And, by the way, if you want to see even more of this, expand the Raise the Age law defining juvenile defenders as 18 year olds to 19 — or 22 or even 25 as some have advocated for.) Anyone with a shred of common sense could have told you this without the multiple disastrous experiments in progressive cities and states across the country, including sadly ours, that prove it.
I know “defunding the prosecutors” doesn’t have the same alarming ring to it as defunding the police, but all the same, we better not do it. Not if we want to maintain Vermont as the safe place it has historically been. Time to start prioritizing the rights of law-abiding citizens and the victims of crime above the possibility that we might offend the criminals by doing so.
Rob Roper is a freelance writer who has been involved with Vermont politics and policy for over 20 years. This article reprinted with permission from Behind the Lines: Rob Roper on Vermont Politics, robertroper.substack.com
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Categories: Commentary, Public Safety
She is a Soros type AG. What do you expect? She is following the agenda of her Communist masters. Including our two senators and congresswoman.
Leftists/marxists like Charity Clark have always abhorred the concepts of personal responsibility and a merit-based society. To them, every seemingly-malicious act is the result of a deeper root cause invoking and promoting some level of the perpetrator’s victimhood from a dispassionate society. They would prefer that the “victimhood” be spread around, and that is where crime victims play their role. Marxists are not into promoting prosperity, they are into spreading the misery. A majority of voters throughout Vermont have swallowed this philosophy whole and ignore the obvious consequences. Thank you, Mr. Roper for helping to expose this societal malignancy.
Thank you for this article, Rob. We must pray that the common sense changes, reforms, and legislation being enacted by the Trump administration will truly begin to permeate the obdurate shell of stupidity and foolishness which misguides so many Vermont legislators, our three federal ones included.
This coming Thursday, March 13th, at 6:30 PM at the town offices in Morrisville, Lamoille County State’s Attorney, Aliena Gerhard, will be speaking at a community meeting sponsored by the Lamoille Republican Party in which she will share her wealth of experience as a prosecutor and answer questions. The public is invited. Although she is a Democrat, don’t let that put you off. She is tenacious, diligent, and as passionate about and committed to justice and public safety as any good prosecutor ought to be.
And some very encouraging news on the legislative front as it regards justice and public safety, particularly as it relates to serial arrestees:
Lamoille County Democrats, Dan Noyes and Dave Yacovone have introduced legislation, H.380, that increases the penalty for violating conditions of release and failure to appear to a felony. It also creates twelve new positions at the Department of Corrections to provide more stringent supervision for individuals pre trial.
I don’t care which party introduces common sense public safety and criminal justice legislation and reform, as long as someone does it. May this bill be vigorously advanced and passed, and may it pave the way for more common sense legislation which deals swiftly and sternly with serial arrestees and habitual offenders.
Charity Clark admits she’s not the top law enforcement officer in Vermont, she’s an installed political activist spending taxpayer money for political grandstanding at the bequest of her Master. Well then, no point hoping law and order will be restored. The criminals and cartels appreciate knowing they can run rimshod all over the State with impunity. What’s her cut from all of this degenerate debauchery? We are on our own. Best be prepared to protect home, life, limbs and loved ones alone. Charity and her comrades are too busy playing politics with our money.
Excuse me, I have to put another stick of wood in my wood stove. Hope you all enjoyed the election results and the increase in your property taxes next year. You should be very proud of your house and senate members as they want to work very hard all summer to solve all of Vermont problems.
Thanks for pointing out that it is we, collectively, the voters who have inflicted this upon ourselves…The Attorney General is an elected office, and Charity Clark’s indifference to the crime and violence we experience is the result of voter ignorance and pathological ideological allegiance to progressive politicians. 200+ Vermont overdose deaths a year are on her hands and on the hands of progressive voters who support her.