Vermont law currently requires that when any child who is 14 years or older is charged with aggravated assault, manslaughter, or murder, that the charge must originate in adult court. That does not mean that the child is tried as an adult, but that is where the charge, by law, must originate. If any 14-year-old is charged in family court with any of those three offenses, or nine others listed in statute, the cases would have to be immediately dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. 

I understand that many are questioning whether racism played a part in the particular charging decisions of the incredibly tragic Bristol shooting, but perhaps we should all be asking how any person can make ethical decisions in the context of a criminal justice system that remains fundamentally broken and unjust.

Sarah Star

Middlebury