AC26 | Session 23
Addressing Invisible Decisions: Bridging the Gaps between Governance Silos in the Vermont Criminal Justice System
Target: State, Local
Focus: Records Management, Tools/Technology
Levels: Intermediate
GARA: "Program Establishment & Administration" OR "Retention & Disposition" 
Overview

Criminal justice agencies depend on well-managed records to support daily operations, meet legal requirements, improve services, and maintain accountability. In practice, criminal justice records are often fragmented across state and municipal agencies (including law enforcement), created, stored, and reused across multiple agencies and systems without clear documentation of ownership, retention, access, or governance. The result can be invisible decision-making, inconsistent retention, overlapping authority, ad hoc sharing, and challenges responding to public records requests.

To encourage consistency and better understand these issues, the Vermont Division of Racial Justice Statistics (DRJS) conducted a criminal justice system gap analysis grounded in established records and information management practices. Supported by a cross-agency team, the project examines how criminal justice records and information are created, maintained, shared, and governed across Vermont’s criminal justice landscape. The work also surfaced connections beyond criminal justice, reinforcing the importance of breaking down agency boundaries for transformative information governance.

Using real-world examples, the team applied a unified RIM framework—combining generally accepted recordkeeping principles, traditional record inventories, and functional analysis—to identify where records are fragmented, duplicated, or siloed. An information governance maturity model was used to assess how governance decisions about sharing, access, and reuse are made.

This session argues that the solution is not necessarily new technology. Instead, it highlights a low-cost, practical methodology (and lessons learned) that uses existing RIM tools to deliver meaningful improvements in data sharing, quality, storage system visibility, and long-standing governance silos.

Attendees Will
  • Learn how governance decisions (ownership, standards, access controls) affect record quality, reuse, and transparency
  • Gain a practical framework for assessing information gaps within their own agencies
  • Identify common governance challenges that limit effective sharing and coordination
  • Develop shared language to collaborate more effectively with peer agencies
  • Support colleagues as records, workflows, and technology change
Presenters
Laura Carter
Analyst, Division of Racial Justice Statistics, Office of Racial Equity, State of Vermont
Laura serves as an Analyst for the Division of Racial Justice Statistics (DRJS) at the State of Vermont Office of Racial Equity. She is passionate about racial and social justice and about data and information governance, with a strong interest in improving statewide processes and systems.

She previously worked as a Records and Information Management Specialist at the Vermont Department of Corrections and at the Vermont State Archives and Records Administration. Laura holds an MLIS with a concentration in Archival Studies from Simmons University and a BA in Literature with a minor in Philosophy from the University of North Carolina at Asheville. She also earned a certificate in Restorative Justice from the Vermont Law and Graduate School.
Megan Wheaton-Book
Records and Information Management Specialist IV, Agency of Human Services, State of Vermont
Meg Wheaton-Book is an experienced Records and Information Management Specialist with Vermont’s Agency of Human Services, providing a wide range of records and information services across agency systems and operations. Meg joined NAGARA in 2015 and has been an enthusiastic supporter ever since, serving as Secretary of the Board of Directors from 2022 to 2026.
Andrew Rais
Andrew Rais
Records and Information Management Specialist III, Vermont State Archives and Records Administration, State of Vermont
Andrew Rais is a Records and Information Management Specialist with the Vermont State Archives and Records Administration (VSARA). He received his BA in history from Framingham State University and his MLIS from Simmons College.

In his current role, Andrew works with the Vermont Judiciary and Executive Branch agencies to establish and implement tailored solutions for recordkeeping and information governance needs. He also supports routine VSARA operations, including processing archival records and assisting with reference services.