The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 28: Public Institutions and Corrections

Chapter 012: Community Reparative Boards

• § 910. Restorative Justice Program

  This chapter establishes a program of restorative justice for use with offenders required to participate in such a program as a sentence or a condition of a sentence of probation. The Program shall be carried out by community reparative boards under the supervision of the Commissioner, as provided by this chapter. (Added 1999, No. 148 (Adj. Sess.), § 68, eff. May 24, 2000; amended 2011, No. 119 (Adj. Sess.), § 11; 2025, No. 81 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. July 1, 2026.)

• § 910a. Reparative boards; functions

  (a) The Commissioner shall establish reparative boards and appoint to them members of the community with the advice and recommendation of nonprofit organizations or municipal entities in the localities concerned. The Commissioner shall appoint each board member to a term of one to three years, may reappoint a member to consecutive terms, and may remove a member for good cause.

  (b) Each board shall elect its chair from its membership. A chair may serve for no more than one year uninterrupted. All meetings of a board shall comply with open meeting law requirements of 1 V.S.A. chapter 5, subchapter 2, consistent with probationer confidentiality requirements of this title, and as may be imposed by the court.

  (c) Each board shall adopt bylaws approved by the Commissioner. Such bylaws may authorize each board to establish panels to conduct reparative board activities.

  (d) Each board shall conduct its meetings in a manner that promotes safe interactions among an offender, victim or victims, and community members, and shall:

  (1) In collaboration with the Department, municipalities, the courts, and other entities of the criminal justice system, implement the Restorative Justice Program of seeking to obtain offender accountability, repair harm and compensate a victim or victims and the community, increase an offender’s awareness of the effect of his or her behavior on a victim or victims and the community, and identify ways to help an offender comply with the law.

  (2) Educate the public about, and promote community support for, the Restorative Justice Program.

  (e) Each board shall have access to the central file of any offender required to participate with that board in the Restorative Justice Program.

  (f) When engaged in board activities, a board member shall be considered a volunteer with regard to any grievance or other matter governed by 3 V.S.A. § 1101. (Added 1999, No. 148 (Adj. Sess.), § 68, eff. May 24, 2000; amended 2011, No. 119 (Adj. Sess.), § 12.)

• § 911. Grant program for community-based half-way houses and programs

  (a) A grant program for community-based alternatives to incarceration is established to assist:

  (1) private nonprofit community organizations establish half-way houses and programs to help adult ex-offenders and offenders on probation, parole, or furlough reintegrate into the community; and

  (2) existing half-way houses and programs for adult ex-offenders and offenders on probation, parole, or furlough.

  (b) The Alternatives to Incarceration Board established under section 912 of this title shall establish procedures and guidelines by which it shall solicit and review proposals for grants, award grants, and monitor and evaluate the progress of projects funded under this chapter.

  (c) Private, nonprofit organizations which create residential half-way houses for former prisoners or offenders on community release status shall receive priority funding under this chapter.

  (d) [Repealed.] (Added 1989, No. 288 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; 2009, No. 33, § 83(l)(2).)

• § 912. Repealed. 1999, No. 148 (Adj. Sess.), § 70, eff. May 24, 2000.

• § 913. Restorative Justice Program referral

  (a) The court may require participation in the Restorative Justice Program in the case of an offender who has pled guilty to a nonviolent felony, a nonviolent misdemeanor, or a misdemeanor that does not involve the subject areas prohibited for referral to a community justice center under 24 V.S.A. § 1967.

  (b) Referral to the Restorative Justice Program pursuant to this section shall not require the court to place the offender on probation. In sentences where the referral is not a condition of probation, the offender shall return to court for further sentencing if the reparative board does not accept the case or if the offender fails to complete the reparative board program to the satisfaction of the board in a time deemed reasonable by the board.

  (c) The court may require participation in the Restorative Justice Program as a condition of probation under subdivision 252(b)(15) of this title.

  (d) In determining whether to order an offender to participate in the Restorative Justice Program, the court shall consider any relevant factors, including:

  (1) whether there is an agreement between the parties for the referral;

  (2) the views of any victim of the offense;

  (3) the impact of the offense on the community;

  (4) the offender’s willingness to participate in the program;

  (5) the offender’s capacity to meaningfully participate in the program; and

  (6) whether there are any orders of protection in effect, or previously in effect, between the offender and any victim.

  (e) The Court Administrator shall create standardized forms for the referral of offenders to the Restorative Justice Program to be used in all courts of the State.

  (f) The Supreme Court may adopt procedural rules to effectuate this section. (Added 2025, No. 81 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. July 1, 2026.)