Act No. 180 Page 1 of 1
2024
This act summary is provided for the convenience of the public and members of the General Assembly. It
is intended to provide a general summary of the act and may not be exhaustive. It has been prepared by the
staff of the Office of Legislative Counsel without input from members of the General Assembly. It is not
intended to aid in the interpretation of legislation or to serve as a source of legislative intent.
Act No. 180 (H.645). An act relating to the expansion of approaches to restorative justice
Subjects: Criminal procedure; crimes; restorative justice
This act creates Pre-Charge Diversion Programs for both juvenile and adult offenders,
as well as streamlines the statutes for the diversion programs already in operation, which
are now referred to as Post-Charge Diversion. This act also creates a Post-Adjudication
Reparative Program Working Group to study connecting appropriate community-based
providers to individuals who are sentenced to reparative boards or probation.
Additionally, there are various reports required to examine stable funding structures and
State administration to support community-based restorative justice providers; record
retention and deletion requirements for diversion programs; and funding alternatives for
community-based diversion referrals.
Specifically, the Pre-Charge Diversion Programs are administered by the Office of the
Attorney General and permit direct referrals from law enforcement or a prosecutor to
diversion when either determines that probable cause exists of a person’s wrongdoing,
but the person has yet to be criminally charged or a petition is filed in family court. Each
county’s State’s Attorney must adopt a public-facing pre-charge diversion policy
outlining various eligibility criteria, required documentation, and other procedures. The
Pre-Charge Diversion Programs have various rights and responsibilities of participants
and victims alike, including the right to access counsel at public expense for the
candidate and the right to certain diversion information made available to the victim.
Successful completion of the Pre-Charge Diversion Program leads to record of the
underlying incident being deleted if certain requirements are met. The Attorney General
is also responsible for maintaining an index of cases and funding the community-based
restorative justice providers involved. Post-Charge Diversion remains the same except
expungement no longer requires the court to be satisfied that the person has been
rehabilitated.
Multiple effective dates, beginning on July 1, 2024
VT LEG #378022 v.2
Statutes affected: As Introduced: 7-656, 18-4230b, 28-12
As Passed By the House -- Official: 7-656, 18-4230b, 28-12
As Passed By the House -- Unofficial: 7-656, 18-4230b
As Passed by Both House and Senate -- Official: 7-656, 18-4230b, 28-12
As Passed by Both House and Senate -- Unofficial: 7-656, 18-4230b
As Enacted: 7-656, 18-4230b