RutlandHerald.com - We Are Vermont

Brooke's death sparked tougher laws

On March 9, Bennington County prosecutors charged a 55-year-old man with the rape of a 12-year-old girl.

Michael R. Williams' alleged crime wasn't anomalous. In 2007 alone, according to the Agency of Human Services, more than 320 Vermont children suffered some form of sexual abuse.

Williams' potential punishment, however, was more unusual. Statutory reforms signed into law just weeks before his arrest created a new crime of aggravated sexual assault on a minor. Williams could be sentenced to a 25-year mandatory minimum prison term under the new law, one of dozens of reforms enacted following the rape and murder of 12-year-old Brooke Bennett.

"We have seen a definite shift in the way Corrections, the way courts and the way law enforcement handles issues of sexual violence in this state," says Sen. Dick Sears, a Bennington County Democrat. "Brooke Bennett's terrible rape and murder really did provide the momentum for a generational change in how we do business."

Public outrage over the Bennett tragedy spawned a pair of bills during the last legislative session that stiffened prison terms, reformed corrections policies, changed court procedures and dedicated new resources to law enforcement.

The new laws include prohibitions against sex trafficking and sexual exploitation of minors – a law Washington County prosecutors used in May to bring charges against a 54-year-old Twinfield Union High School teacher.

Come July, the number of names on the state's Internet sex offender registry will increase five-fold. Vermont courts will soon begin collecting DNA samples from anyone charged with a felony. And lawmakers will set to work in January on the development of a new violence-prevention curriculum to be implemented in every public school in the state.

The reforms also look to improve victims' experiences in the criminal justice system. The creation of special-investigation units will make for better cases, officials say, and offer victims the kind of broad support they need. The new legislation also ends a long-standing requirement that forced juvenile victims to submit to depositions from defense lawyers.

"We looked across the spectrum to identify places we could strengthen protections for Vermont's children," Sears said. "It's difficult to pick out any single item – it's really their collective impact that's going to have the greatest effect."

The latest incarceration rates suggest that some of the reforms are already having an impact. As of last week, Vermont had 57 more sex offenders behind bars than it did this time last year; the number of violent offenders serving time is up by 69. The increases – noteworthy in a state that has a relatively low inmate population of 2,200 – reflect an attitudinal shift among judges, prosecutors, Corrections officials and police, according to John Perry with the Vermont Department of Corrections.

"I think it's safe to say that the criminal justice system as a whole has responded to the Brooke Bennett tragedy with longer sentences and more incarceration than in the past," Perry says. "And it's not just sex offenders, it's also other kinds of violence."

Perry said sentencing data isn't yet available to prove his thesis. But given the downward trajectory in violent crime rates, Perry said, it's unlikely the increased figures are due to an influx of new offenders. More likely, according to Perry, they're just spending more time in jail.

"In terms of actual crimes committed, I don't think there's been much difference – the violent crime rate is actually down," Perry said. "So what's changed is the use of incarceration for violent offenders and sex offenders."

Shortly after police uncovered Bennett's body from a shallow grave near her alleged killer's Randolph Center home, Sears' Senate Judiciary Committee convened a series of summer legislative hearings. Testimony and evidence gathered during the months-long process yielded a pair of omnibus reform bills that, according to many politicians and advocates, represent some of the most sweeping statutory reforms in decades.

"By any measure, Vermont is a much more hostile place to sex offenders than it has been in years past," says Secretary of Human Services Rob Hofmann, whose umbrella agency includes the Department of Corrections.

Hofmann, commissioner of Corrections during the summer hearings, helped oversee changes in a department that came under intense scrutiny for its handling of Bennett's alleged killer, Michael Jacques.

He attributes the recent increase in incarceration rates among sex offenders in part to policies enacted following the Bennett tragedy. Among them are a centralized system for reviewing sex-offender cases, and a new statutory requirement that forces high-risk offenders to serve at least 70 percent of their maximum sentences.

"More beds in Vermont prisons are being dedicated to incarcerating sex offenders," said Hofmann, who noted that the number of nonviolent offenders serving time has decreased over the past year. "We're seeking alternatives for nonviolent offenders to free up room for violent offenders. While some sex offenders can be adequately managed in the community, there is a preference and desire on the part of the Vermont public to see incarceration longer, and we've been devoting increasing amounts of prison space to doing just that."

Hofmann said the department has also strengthened ties with the Department of Children and Families as well as law enforcement officials to lessen the risk of recidivism by offenders released back into Vermont communities.

The efforts now under way, he says, seek to prevent people like Jacques from manipulating the system.

"The Jacques case is an example of someone who was masterful at manipulating his family, manipulating the criminal justice system, including certainly the Department of Corrections. And it's an area we continually have to seek advances … in terms of supervision as well as to develop treatment to help them control their perverse inclinations and seek ways to safely re-enter them into the community."

In addition to Corrections reforms and harsher prison sentences, lawmakers focused on the creation of special investigation units to enhance the state's ability to charge sexual violence cases. The bill included $1.5 million in new funding for state police and SIU grants.

Special investigation units now exist in some form in every county except Addison. The units bring together police, victims' advocates, nurses and special prosecutors to develop cases against offenders and provide appropriate treatment to victims and their families.

Detective Sgt. Ingrid Jonas of the state police occupies a position, created last year, that oversees the development of SIUs. Since April 1, she says, state police have dedicated three specially trained detectives for sex-crime investigations in Bennington, Windsor, Orange and Lamoille counties. On July 1, another detective devoted solely to sex crimes will be assigned to Essex and Orleans counties.

"I feel really good about it and think we're moving in the right direction," Jonas says. "We've seen how important this approach is to addressing these types of cases, and we know we can't go back to old way where we just hope that whoever gets assigned the case has the skills and expertise to work it the right way."

Sarah Kenney, public policy coordinator for the Vermont Network Against Sexual and Domestic Violence, says her organization is particularly happy with the prevention efforts contained in the 2009 legislation.

"We know we need to prevent violence before it happens," Kenney says. "And that's going to require a significant change in the way we approach prevention efforts."

The new curriculum likely won't reach communities and classrooms for a couple years, Kenney says, but the legislation lays the foundation for a more effective approach.

Hofmann and Sears both say Bennett's murder helped expose an underlying truth that should help all Vermonters protect their children from violence in the first place – more than 95 percent of all sexual assaults on juveniles are committed by someone close to the child.

"We had been looking at sex crimes I think in terms of stranger-danger, teaching kids to be careful of the guy in the white van who might be trying to lure you to see a puppy," Sears says. "In fact 95 to 99 percent of these crimes are perpetrated by someone well known to victim. I think having that knowledge is a huge sea change."

Hofmann says the public awareness that sprouted from the Bennett case may be its most important legacy.

"If I could keep one single thing coming out of this tragedy, it would be for every parent to have the admittedly uncomfortable discussion with their kids that most people who do these terrible acts are not strangers," Hofmann says. "It's something probably the single biggest step they could take to make children safer."