Expungement law available to young adult offenders

The Springfield Restorative Justice Center (SRJC) is now offering assistance to community members from Southern Windsor County who want to take advantage of a criminal record expungement law that went into place last year.

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2016-04-28 / Front Page Expungement law available to young adult offenders By Tory Jones Bonenfant toryb@eagletimes.com SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield Restorative Justice Center (SRJC) is now offering assistance to community members from Southern Windsor County who want to take advantage of a criminal record expungement law that went into place last year. “We’ve just started,” SRJC Director Wendi Lashua Germain said on Wednesday, April 27. The statewide program is open to anyone who has had charges, she said. The expungement program has been in development for more than a year, but is now “up and running,” Germain said. SRJC is now working with Vermont residents who committed a crime before the age of 25 and seek for that crime to be removed from their criminal record, according to a press release from SRJC. No one has yet come forward, as the center has just begun releasing information to the public this week, but Germain said those who would like to take part are welcome to call her at SRJC. “The law recognizes that even a minor criminal record carries a lifetime of consequences,” Germain said in the press release issued on Monday, April 25. “Research has demonstrated that young people under the age of 25 do not have fully developed brains. If they have led an otherwise responsible adult life, it makes sense to take another look at their criminal record.” The state of Vermont passed legislation in 2015 providing an expedited process for people who committed certain crimes when they were young to “move forward in life” without a criminal record, as long as they have not committed another crime since, Germain said in the press release. Under 13 V.S.A. §7602(d), which deals with criminal record sealing and expungement, offenses that qualify for expungement are “generally non-violent misdemeanors, with a few exceptions,” according to that press release. The new law includes conditions, however. That statute requires that at least five years must have elapsed since the person successfully completed their sentence and paid all court fees and restitution. The person must also demonstrate to the SRJC’s community-based Restorative Justice Panel that they have been living productively, as demonstrated through “regular employment, completion of a year of military service or other public service such as Americorps, or a combination of community service, reparation of harm, and education about ways to not reoffend,” according to the center director. Germain said that the program will remain open permanently to anyone in Vermont who qualifies. The SRJC can assist community members from Southern Windsor County to understand what is needed to qualify, based on the expungement law and state policy. The wording for that law is also available by searching the statute number 13 V.S.A. §7602(d) and subsections through http://legislature.vermont.gov. For more information, those interested may contact Germain at springfieldrjc@vermontel.net or at (802) 885-8707.