The Effect of COVID-19 on the Vermont Criminal Justice System

Introduction

This report explores the effect that COVID-19 policies had on Vermont’s crime and criminal court case processing. 


Methods

CRG analyzed crime data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) to assess the impact of Vermont's COVID-19 state of emergency on reported crimes and arrest patterns. CRG selected a range of common crimes reported to NIBRS for analysis.

CRG receives monthly extracts of all court filing dispositions from the Vermont Judiciary. These files were analyzed to assess the impact of Vermont's COVID-19 state of emergency on criminal case processing.

Findings and Highlights

  • Most crimes studied were not impacted by the emergency policies put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis shows they follow the seasonal patterns of previous years.
  • The effect of closing down non-essential stores is seen in the retail theft numbers of April- June 2020.
  • The proportion of arrests resulting in citations increased in 2020 and has remained at those levels.
    • In the Crimes Against People category, the use of citations increased in the crime of simple assault from below 50% prior to 2020 to remaining above 50% thereafter.
  • Black people were more likely than all other races to be arrested on a warrant. Black individuals who were arrested were less likely to receive a citation compared to those of other racial groups. 
  • The median time for the courts to dispose of a misdemeanor only cased increased 110 days during the study period.
  • Any case involving violent charges took 63 days longer to dispose of during COVID-19 compared to pre-pandemic times.
  • Felony cases took 60 days longer to dispose of during COVID-19 compared to pre-pandemic times.

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The Effect of COVID-19 on the Vermont Criminal Justice System

Limitations and Conclusions

This study was limited to the analysis of crimes and arrests and court processing. It did not examine impacts the COVID-19 pandemic may have had on other criminal justice systems.  However, the Act 40 Criminal Justice Investments and Trends Report does contain some analysis that shows how the pandemic impacted incarcerated bed utilization and returns from community supervision for people supervised by the Department of Corrections.

Retail theft dropped to its lowest levels in March and April of 2020, when non-essential stores were closed.  Other drops in reported offenses were within seasonal norms. Crime reported to the police was largely unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Criminal court case processing times increased during the pandemic. Case processing times did not fall back to pre-pandemic times. However, this cannot be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Vermont Judiciary was also impacted by other factors that slowed the opening of courthouses, including construction and personnel shortages.