Vermont is a  Centralized State: The Family Services Division, Department for Children and Families, administers most services to delinquents in Vermont, encompassing diversion, most detention, probation supervision, commitment, and aftercare.

How is detention organized? 

The Department for Children and Families administers Vermont's only secure detention program, the Short-Term Program at the Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center, a secure facility. Statewide, there are 30 beds available for short-term detention and corrections combined.

By statute, the State Attorney General must develop a juvenile court diversion project. The state's attorney develops the criteria for deciding what types of offenses and offenders will be eligible for diversion and retains final discretion over the referral of each case for diversion.

Under the Juvenile Code, victims of juvenile offenders are entitled to the following rights: the right to submit a victim impact statement at disposition and the right to learn the offender's name under certain circumstances.

The juvenile probation officer (often a social worker) from the local Department for Children and Families' office is responsible for the probation supervision of delinquent offenders. Social workers supervise delinquents on probation with contracted assistance from the state Street Checkers Program.

Probation officers are not professionally certified in Vermont, but they must attend a mandatory fundamental orientation of 55 hours within the first 6 months of employment and 75 additional hours within 2 years. There is a mandatory continuing training requirement of 30 hours a year.

When the court commits an adjudicated delinquent to the Family Services Division, Department of Children and Families (DCF), custody is transferred to DCF. DCF determines the type and location of placement for those in custody. The court cannot place a juvenile directly in a local/state, public/private placement without committing the juvenile to the state delinquency institution. 

Vermont does not have a juvenile paroling authority. To terminate the custody determination before the youth reaches the age of majority (age 18), the Family Services Division, Department of Children and Families, files a motion to discharge custody with the court. The court makes the release decision. Vermont does not use a structured decision-making instrument to make release decisions.

The Family Services Division, Department of Children and Families, provides supervision after release from commitment until the age of 18. The same probation officer assigned to the case at commitment may provide supervision, although that is not always the case. Either DCF or its contractors are responsible for the youth until he or she reaches 18. 

Vermont’s purpose clause is rooted in Balanced and Restorative Justice (BARJ) philosophies.  The BARJ movement advocates that juvenile courts give balanced attention to three primary interests: public safety, individual accountability to the victims and community, and the development in offenders of those skills necessary to live law-abiding and productive lives.

Lower Age: 10

Upper Age: 17

Extended Age of Delinquency Jurisdiction: 20

Vermont does not use a risk assessment instrument at screening for detention. Currently, Vermont has not yet mandated a risk/needs assessment instrument for determining levels of probation supervision, but such an assessment is in development . No data was available as to the use of assessments during aftercare.