The Vermont House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly last Thursday to strengthen laws against sex offenders in response to the rape and murder of 12-year-old Brooke Bennett, a Vermont resident, this past summer. The bill, which addresses the prevention, investigation and prosecution of sex crimes, passed by a margin of 131-2.
The state Senate, which had previously passed similar legislation, will have to approve the amendments the House made to the bill in order for it to become law.
Rep. Maxine Grad, D-Moretown, the bill's cosponsor and vice chair of the House judiciary committee, said she hopes the discrepancies between the two versions of the bill will be resolved by next week.
The legislation is "such a priority to Vermonters," Grad said.
The bill introduces two new crimes regarding sexual offenses: sexual exploitation of minors and aggravated sexual assault of children. The latter will carry a minimum sentence of 25 years in jail.
This bill would also improve the monitoring of sexual offenders after they are released back into the community, Grad said.
In addition, it would require DNA samples in any case where a judge has found probable cause to charge an individual with a felony or with a misdemeanor sex or domestic abuse crime.
Currently, Vermont law requires only convicted felons to give a DNA sample.
This provision may spark controversy, state Rep. Kathleen Keenan, D-Franklin, said, noting that it will likely be challenged in the State Supreme Court.
Many legislators are concerned that the provision may violate the Vermont Constitution, Grad said.
"People are concerned about privacy rights and whether or not this is an infringement of their rights under the Vermont Constitution," Grad said. "Nobody knows for sure ... but again it's our job as a legislature to create good policy, and certainly we ask questions about constitutionality, but that's a separate branch of government."
Grad said she was particularly proud that the bill includes continued funding for special investigative units.
These units consist of teams of detectives, social workers, prosecutors and victim advocates who work with adult and child victims of sexual violence, as well as alleged perpetrators, she said.
"The goal is to get confessions and get the best evidence about elements of a case in order to really bring justice to these victims," Grad said.
The bill aims to provide judges with as much information as possible, Grad said.
"The bill also ensures a lot of information sharing between different agencies like the Department of Children and Families, Department of Public Safety and the Department of Corrections to make sure things don't slide through the cracks," Grad said. "Over the summer, when we looked over the horrific murder which prompted this work, we realized that judges didn't have all the tools they needed, and agencies weren't really sharing information and that these things really could be improved."
Grad described the bill as a "big toolbox" that can be used to stop and catch sexual offenders.
"It includes tools for communities in terms of the prevention of child abuse, tools for educators, tools for prosecutors and tools for judges," she said. "It is a comprehensive approach to hopefully one day make our state free of sexual violence."
State Rep. Anne Donahue, R-Washington, who was among the two representatives who voted against the measure, said her decision was guided by economic concerns.
"Millions of dollars of new money is being poured into this one legislation when we have cutbacks in programs [that address sexual violence]," she said, arguing that the bill contradicts its own goals.
