Vermont’s top law enforcement officials and lawmakers are trying to ensure that the state’s African-Americans, Hispanic immigrants and other minorities don’t feel the sting of discrimination.
Statistics show the percentage of African-American inmates in the state’s prisons is 10 times their rate in the population, a figure that has doubled in the past decade.
So state police are setting out to improve training and the Legislature is considering a bill that would require Vermont’s criminal justice system to keep detailed records of the race and ethnicity of the people who encounter the system.