Burlington, Vermont -- January 6, 2006
A judge's ruling for a sex offender not only raises concerns about sentencing limits, but about Vermont's sex offender therapy program.
At issue is a prison policy that delays therapy for some sex offenders until they are back on the streets.
Under law, the primary mission of Vermont's prison system is to rehabilitate criminals to rejoin society.
The programs include corrective-therapy for sex offenders.
Problem is, some sex offenders must first be released to get into the program.
"I'm not surprised that the community is upset about this. Sex offenses are very serious," said Georgia Cumming, Executive Director of Vermont's Sex Offender Treatment Program.
Cumming says she understands why the public was upset when child-rapist Mark Hulett received a 60-day sentence for repeatedly raping a little girl.
Judge Edward Cashman has come under fire for the sentence. The judge says getting Hulett out of prison quickly is the only way to get Hulett into sex offender treatment program quickly because Hulett is classified as a low-risk offender, so he ineligible for in-prison treatment.
"All of the literature I've read said if you're interested in changing behavior, you don't have to do it inside. If anything, you have a better chance of success with an outside program," said Cashman when he handed out the 60-day sentence to Hulett on Wednesday.
Vermont's sex offender program has three categories of sex offender starting with level A -- like Hulett. He is considered to be low-risk and treatment starts only after he gets out of prison. Level B are medium to high risk offenders. They begin treatment inside prison. Level C are considered very high risk to re-offend and they begin treatment only near the end of their sentence, if at all.
Cumming says many factors are taken into consideration to determine the classifications.
"We look at does a person have a prior sexual offense? Does the offender have a prior non-sexual record? Has that offender offended against a stranger. So, the relationship of the offender to the victim tells you something about the type of risk they pose," Cumming explained.
As for Hulett, despite the severity of his crime, because he molested a neighbor's child, he qualifies as low-risk under the rating system.
"Well, offenders who have offended against a family member or another relative or neighbor who has not committed a prior offense typically score low on these risk assessment instruments, particularly if they have not, do not have any prior criminal history," Cumming added.
Governor Douglas asked his staff to reexamine sex offender classification policies. In the meantime, the Chittenden County prosecutor and Vermont's Attorney General say they may ask Judge Cashman to reconsider the sentence of Mark Hulett, and the possibility of appealing the sentence to the Supreme Court.
