Vermont Criminal Records

Vermont sells its conviction record to anyone, online, for $30 a name, and keeps everything else close. The Crime Information Center's report is convictions only; the Judiciary's Public Portal shows criminal cases to the public only at a courthouse terminal; the state seals non-conviction records on its own within sixty days; and the state, not the counties, runs every jail. Its public records act, unusually, names the arrest and the charge as public in the same sentence that closes the investigation. This page gives the Vermont rule and the Vermont search for each record, with government sources only.

The Vermont Crime Information Center's record checks page sends the public to one place: "If you DO NOT need a notarized copy of a Criminal Conviction report on yourself or anyone else then visit the Vermont Conviction Report (VCCRIS) Website. You will need to provide a Name and Date of Birth and there is a $30.00 charge per conviction report." The service itself adds the rule the databases never mention: "Criminal Conviction History Records cost $30 per request. Non-refundable charges apply whether the check returns a record or returns a 'record not found' result." The Center's questions page covers the counter and the person's own copy: "Criminal conviction reports are $30. The fee is payable by cash, credit card, certified check or money order if you come into our office," and "you may view your criminal history report at no charge." What comes back is the conviction record under 20 V.S.A. 2056c, and nothing else: an arrest that ended without a conviction, a sealed or expunged case and any other state are all outside it. It is a name and date of birth search, and the criminal records page explains why a name match is a guess.

Vermont tries every criminal case in the Criminal Division of the Superior Court, one unit in each of the fourteen counties, and the Judiciary's Public Portal is the single index, with the portal's own notice drawing the line: anonymous public users get the civil division and the Judicial Bureau from home, while "access to all other public case types (criminal, family, probate and others) is available to the general public only at courthouse public access terminals." So a Vermont criminal docket is searched at the courthouse, by name, and copies are certified by the clerk there; the county pages on this site link each Superior Court unit. A background check company's "Vermont court record" is a copy of a terminal search or a bulk extract on the date it was made, and the criminal records page explains what a copy misses.

Vermont's chapter 230 of Title 13 has two working sections. Section 7602, "expungement and sealing of record, postconviction; procedure," lets a person petition the court that entered a qualifying conviction after the waiting period the section sets, five years for most of the offenses it lists, with no new convictions and restitution paid, for an order that expunges or seals the record. Section 7603 covers records of arrests and charges that did not end in conviction, and since the 2020s amendments the court seals them itself within sixty days of the dismissal or acquittal, with the person able to petition for full expungement; the Vermont Supreme Court's opinion in docket 21-179 worked through the difference, noting that the automatic route runs "without requiring" a petition prospectively while "7603(g) requires the person to file a petition" for the older cases, and that the process "permits a court to expunge cases that resulted in dismissal with prejudice or acquittal prior to" the law. An expunged Vermont case is treated as if it never occurred and a sealed one may be denied outside the criminal justice system, and the order reaches the Crime Information Center, the court and the arresting agency. A copy sold before the order keeps the case, and the federal rule on complete and up to date public records, on the criminal records page, is what forces the copy to catch up.

Vermont's Public Records Act exempts, in 1 V.S.A. 317(c)(5), "records dealing with the detection and investigation of crime," and then, in subdivision (B), takes the arrest back out: "Notwithstanding subdivision (A) of this subdivision (5), records relating to management and direction of a law enforcement agency; records reflecting the initial arrest of a person, including any ticket, citation, or complaint issued for a traffic violation," and records reflecting the charge, are public. The Vermont State Police explain that the act "provides for access to public records" and that "those exemptions are set forth in 1 V.S.A. 317," and the State Police, like most Vermont departments, publish arrest press releases with names and charges, which is what the databases copy. Who is in custody is a state question: Vermont has no county jails, and the Department of Corrections runs Vermont VINE, which "communicates with DOC's" system so that anyone can get "custody status information or register for notification by calling VINE's toll-free number, or logging onto www.vinelink.com," while the state's offender locator finds "any inmate or offender currently on record with the Department of Corrections." The arrest records page covers what happens to a booking after it leaves the release.

A Vermont judgment lien is short and renewable. Under 12 V.S.A. chapter 113, a final judgment recorded in the land records of the town where the property lies is a lien on the debtor's real property for eight years from the issuance of the judgment, and section 2903 adds that "a judgment that is renewed or revived pursuant to section 506 of this title shall constitute a lien on real property for eight years from the issuance of the renewed or revived judgment if recorded in accordance with this chapter," section 506 being the eight-year limit on an action on a judgment. Land in Vermont is recorded by town, so a lien search is a town clerk search. The court records page covers where the judgments and the town land records are searched.

Vermont is a single federal judicial district, the District of Vermont, under 28 U.S.C. 126, and court is held at Bennington, Brattleboro, Burlington, Montpelier, Rutland, Saint Johnsbury and Windsor. A federal criminal case from any of Vermont's fourteen counties is on that one docket and on PACER, whose prices and gaps are on the criminal records page.

Whether a person has a Vermont conviction: the Center's $30 online report answers it by name and date of birth, convictions only, paid whether or not there is a record.

Whether a person was charged in a county: the Public Portal answers it at a courthouse terminal, and the clerk certifies the answer.

Whether a person was arrested: the initial arrest and the charge are public under 1 V.S.A. 317, and the investigation is not.

Whether a person is in custody now: VINE and the offender locator answer it for every jail and prison in the state.

Whether an old case can still be found: a sealed non-conviction case leaves the record within sixty days, an expunged conviction is treated as if it never occurred, a judgment lien lapses at eight years unless renewed, and a copy that predates the order is reached through the federal rule.