Chittenden County appears to be keeping nonviolent criminals from returning to crime.
That’s according to a study to be released by the Vermont Center for Justice Research.
The Rapid Intervention Community Court addresses the substance abuse or mental health issues that drive the original offenses. Since the program was launched in 2010, at least 470 people have successfully gone through it.
The study says only 7.4 percent of them have been convicted of a crime compared with 23.9 percent of those who did not finish the program.
Vermont Corrections Commissioner Andy Pallito says this and similar programs contributed to a drop in the number of young people in Vermont’s prisons in the last dozen years.