April 19, 2024
I was never a prosecutor, nor did I ever aspire to be one, but they play an essential role in the criminal justice system. And, at least in Vermont, that role is becoming so overwhelmed as to affect the quality of the justice.
National standards dictate that prosecutors should carry no more than 300 cases at any one time (by contrast, I don’t believe I ever had more than 50-60 active criminal cases when I was doing criminal work). In Vermont, only five states attorney’s offices have an average work-load per prosecutor of fewer than 300 cases, and only one is under 275.
At the other end of the scale, the Franklin County State’s Attorney’s office averages 389 cases per attorney, the Windham County office averages 451, and the Lamoille County office averages an almost inconceivable 531 cases. Public defenders’ loads are significantly less, but still double what they were prior to the COVID pandemic.
Some of these numbers can be attributed to the backlog of cases that developed when courts were closed for many months during the pandemic, and which has still not fully eased, but I also have to guess that there are any number of cases that should either never have been brought, or which should have been referred to diversion-type programs.
And things don’t look to improve any time soon. Although the Vermont House recently passed a bill that would provide temporary assistance in the form of 10 new prosecutors, 10 victim advocates and 10 administrative assistants, Vermont Governor Phil Scott opposes the additional spending, nor does he support proposals to create some 40 other positions elsewhere in the judicial system.
It’s a mess for the courts, prosecutors, defense attorneys, defendants and the victims of crime.
I picked a good time to get out of the game.