S.12 Letter to Gov. Scott
STATE OF VERMONT
Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs
Office of the Executive Director
June 18, 2025
Governor Philip B. Scott
109 State Street, Pavilion
Montpelier, VT 05609
Dear Governor Scott:
On behalf of the Department of State's Attorneys and Sheriffs, I am writing to express our sincere appreciation for your support of S.12 – the sealing bill – and your decision to sign the legislation into law.
For years we have worked with your Office and the Department of Public Safety, often facing legislative opposition, in order to navigate a path forward to balance the preservation of criminal history records for criminal justice purposes, with the ability for individuals to benefit from the positive effects of a sealed criminal history record.
It is important to reiterate that sealing criminal history records, rather than expunging them, offers significant benefits not only to defendants but also to victims of crime, law enforcement agencies, researchers, attorneys and the public at large. This bill makes Vermont more transparent and, in my view, makes Vermont a safer place to live. The balance inherent in S.12 is vital in maintaining public safety while promoting rehabilitation and accountability.
Notably, under S.12, utilizing sealed criminal records for criminal justice purposes, the State may fulfill its constitutional and ethical responsibilities to provide defendants in other cases with exculpatory information, such as information pertaining to the credibility of witnesses and police officers.
S.12 now puts us on a more level course and closer to par with the majority of other states. Vermont's current form of expungement is one of the most extreme forms of deletion in the United States. This extreme approach has harmed victims, defendants, accountability, and has placed a huge drain on the very limited front-line SAS resources. Sealing is far more effective at achieving the goals of benefiting those who have had criminal justice system involvement, while also allowing for limited usage for criminal justice purposes (should someone come into contact with law enforcement again).
We firmly believe that the compromise reached by the legislature in establishing a statewide policy for law enforcement access and use of sealed criminal history records, along with a court process for disclosing records outside of criminal justice agencies, effectively meets those concerns. Crucially, this solution has been crafted to not overly burden either law enforcement or prosecutors to implement. We will keep your office informed as we implement this bill in the coming year.
Thank you again for your support of this vital legislation.
Sincerely,
Timothy Lueders-Dumont, Esq.
Executive Director
Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs