This morning Uniform Law Commissioner Rich Cassidy testified
before the House Judiciary Committee on the Uniform Collateral Consequences of
Conviction Act, a bill that has yet to be introduced. Rich chaired the ULC
committee that drafted the act. This will be the second go round for the UCCCA,
the first version of which failed to pass the Senate in the last session. His testimony
was really just background for the committee to begin to understand the issue. There
is an estimated 35,000 statutes across the country that may apply post conviction.
There may be as many as 300 statutes that contain consequences of conviction
in Vermont. He also said that some estimate that 100,000 Vermonters may have a
conviction in their past.
So what would this bill do? It would require the collection
and updating of the list of collateral consequences. It requires notice to a
defendant of the concept of collateral consequences that may be out there. it
regulates the effect of collateral consequences from state to state and it
would provide limited relief from some consequences.
As we know some consequences of a conviction are automatic (collateral
sanctions) while others are discretionary (disqualifications). As I understand it
the bill would make all sanctions discretionary and provide states specific
grounds to exercise that discretion.
Check out this website for the list of consequences in
Vermont, one of twelve states to have been researched to date: http://www.abacollateralconsequences.org/
Also, if you haven’t seen it yet, we created a Bill Watch
page on our website where you can find those bills that we are tracking. Here’s
the link:
Book mark that page so you can return to either read a bill
to check its current status.
Thanks for reading.
Bob,
ReplyDeleteNice summary of a complicated subject. One caveat, the UCCCA would not always make all collateral consequences discretionary. In the event of ambiguity on the point, a collateral consequence would be required to construed as discretionary. And one effect of any certificate or order of relief granted under that statute would be to make automatic sanctions discretionary disqualifications and to guide the exercise of discretion by governmental officials.
Thanks for posting about the bill!
Rich