General provisions; punishment at hard labor

This proposal seeks to amend the Vermont Constitution by removing the requirement that criminals be punished through hard labor. It directly affects how the state legally handles sentencing for non-capital crimes by eliminating a constitutional mandate for forced labor as punishment. The bill would repeal Section 64 of Chapter II, which currently states that convicted criminals should be employed for public benefit or to repair private injuries while allowing public observation of their work. If approved by voters in 2026, this change would update Vermont's constitutional framework to reflect modern attitudes toward incarceration and justice.