Panel members get involved in ways they never could if they were serving as jurors. Everyone pays higher prices, he says, to cover the store's loss. Vermont's crime rate well below USA's Vermont's low crime rate maybe related to the small state strong sense of community. Vermont's population of 587,000 dispersed among 246 cities and towns, most with fewer than 2,000 people. Board members say some may fear facing their antagonists, while others don't wish to be inconvenienced.
Proponents say board sanctions are typically tougher than conventional probation.
But offenders opt for the citizen panels to get their sentences concluded quickly. In Vermont, probation can last more than a year and can include special sanctions such as drug tests and rehabilitation programs. Reparative board punishments are concluded within 90 days. In the corrections department's view, the boards have worked out well. Citizens handled about 650 cases last year or one-third of Vermont's ordinary probation caseload.