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PRESS RELEASE
October 1, 2026
A significant reduction in recidivism aligns with Vermont’s historic “Raise the Age” law
Vermont’s Council for Equitable Youth Justice (CEYJ) and the Department for Children and Families (DCF) released a report today commissioned to track the outcomes of Vermont’s historic “Raise the Age” law, which was enacted in 2018.
The study, conducted by Vermont’s Crime Research Group (CRG) and the Justice Information Research Network, found that the recidivism rates of 18-year-olds prosecuted in Family Court after the Raise the Age law was implemented in 2020 were remarkably low: 6.9% of the 18-year-olds prosecuted as juveniles were convicted in adult court in a different case within one year of the original case. This rate was three times less than recidivism rates from the cohort of 18- and 19-year-olds (24%) who were prosecuted in adult criminal court before Raise the Age was implemented.
“The study’s findings on Vermont’s Raise the Age law are unequivocally positive,” says Lael Chester, Director of the national Emerging Adult Justice Project. “When I co-authored a report for the Vermont legislature back in 2019 about best ways to implement the law, I was cautiously optimistic. After all, there was a solid body of research indicating that providing more developmentally appropriate services to older youth would produce better youth outcomes and increase public safety. I was further encouraged when tracking caseload data over time. We found that even after adding 18-year-olds into the youth justice system in 2020, Vermont experienced a decline in overall delinquency cases. This report provides further evidence of the Raise the Age law’s success.”
“Making systemic changes to the justice system can be intimidating,” explains Vincent Schiraldi, another co-author of the 2019 legislative report for Vermont, former head of youth services in Maryland and Washington, DC and commissioner of corrections and probation in New York City. “The tendency is to stick to the status quo. But to be effective and fair, the justice system must be developmentally appropriate, and Vermont is leading the nation in recognizing that emerging adults can be better served in the juvenile justice system.”
Implementation of phase two of the Raise the Age Law, which will include most 19-year-olds into the juvenile justice system (except for more serious offenses) was originally scheduled to be implemented in 2022 but is now scheduled to begin on July 1, 2027.
In the meantime, Massachusetts has a bill pending that would follow Vermont’s example by raising the upper age of juvenile jurisdictions over the eighteenth birthday (as part of a larger economic development bill, S.2856).
“Massachusetts lawmakers should take head of their fellow New Englanders’ success in including 18-year-olds in their youth justice system,” stated Schiraldi. “Vermont has provided proof of concept that the Commonwealth would do well to emulate.”
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