NEWS & BLOG

It is truly a rare opportunity for one man to be able to save the lives of forty others. Luckily, our Constitution puts this great and redeeming power in the hands of you, the President of the United States. You have this unique and historic opportunity to promote human dignity, fairness, and justice. We beg you to use your power of commutation, your power of mercy, to close out your time in the presidency. Our country has had a long history of injustice which is often overlooked. This is an opportunity to be counted among those presidents that have used their power for mercy instead of violence.

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We’ve traveled to every corner of the state talking with Virginians, legislators, and coalition partners and they want to invest in solutions; for justice, fairness, and the health and vitality of our commonwealth. Below is a list of our meaningful, evidence informed legislative proposals, other legislation we support, and legislation we oppose going before lawmakers during the 2025 Virginia General Assembly Legislative Session—a smarter approach to criminal justice:

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“I must respectfully disagree with your assessment that "the recent round of stories about Red Onion are nothing more than bad-faith efforts to try to score cheap political points by advocacy groups who pursue prison abolition and policies that would make Virginians less safe." The evidence suggests that the current approach-relying on punitive measures like solitary confinement-only makes our communities less safe in the long term. Our correctional system should be focused on rehabilitation and preparing individuals for successful reentry into society, not punishing them in ways that leave them broken and isolated.”

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With the legislative session at a close and a special session scheduled to address the budget, we now know the outcome of all Justice Forward Virginia’s 2024 Legislative Priorities and present three major criminal justice reform takeaways from this session:

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“I can never call the police for aid when my 30-year-old son is in crisis,“ Teresa Champion says. Champion’s son is autistic, and has a spitting tic he cannot control. Like many caregivers of loved ones with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), mental illness, and neurocognitive disorders, Champion knows a Virginia statute criminalizes behaviors common to her loved one’s diagnosis.

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Over the past few years, Virginia emerged from the Stone Ages of criminal justice as a result of smart, contemporary, humane, evidence-informed legislation that promotes public safety while minimizing harm to vulnerable people and communities. Although the politics of crime have stymied further progress to some extent, the fact is the reforms Virginia passed since 2020 are popular—largely because they’re working.

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On October 7, 2023, the People’s Tribunal, a group of incarcerated people, returning citizens, loved ones and allies, convened at the Richmond Convention Center under a single unifying premise: that each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done. The idea that basic human dignity cannot be forfeited has long been ignored in Virginia’s criminal legal system, especially its prisons, where human rights are routinely violated. For too long, this mistreatment has been ignored or shrugged off by those in Virginia with the power to address it.

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Pretextual policing is the main reason Black Americans are so much more likely than white Americans to be subjected to encounters with law enforcement. In Virginia, Black motorists are nearly two times more likely than white drivers to be stopped on the roadways, and nearly three times more likely to be searched. These encounters are also the common thread between so many tragic instances of the police killing Black drivers: Sandra Bland, Philando Castile, Samuel Dubose, Daunte Wright, and many others all were killed at the hands of police after an encounter that began with a “pretextual hunch.”

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Justice Forward Virginia is seeking to add a new member to its Board of Directors. By-laws adopted in 2022 require the organization to make good faith and reasonable efforts to ensure the board is equipped to fulfill its purpose of transformative change within the criminal legal system, by including historically marginalized and directly impacted people, as well as individuals who are on the front-lines of reform but often excluded from policymaking, such as public defenders and other social justice advocates. In addition, current needs of our expanding and professionalizing organization require increased capacity to better navigate the complexities of nonprofit governance.

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Our movement to reform Virginia’s criminal legal system is entering unchartered territory. After decades of being told “no” by members of both political parties, advocates for criminal justice reform in Virginia achieved remarkable victories in 2020 and 2021. Together, we abolished the death penalty, legalized marijuana, ended mandatory jury sentencing, placed unprecedented limits on pretextual policing, repealed presumptions against bail, capped supervised probation terms and jail time for technical violations, expanded record sealing to include convictions, and enacted scores of other much-needed reforms.

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The Self portrait Project traveled from New York City to collaborate with Justice Forward Virginia on July 22, 2023. The “photo booth” installation was part of the annual Women’s Summit–a three day event that brings together grassroots activists, organizations, elected officials, and candidates. Created by National Geographic Traveler award-winning photographer Andy Lin, the Self-Portrait Project is a system and method for self-representation using a patented two-way mirror, camera, and remote control–the Project itself is an exploration of shared humanity.

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Virginia made historic strides toward reforming our criminal legal system in 2020 and 2021, but there is still much to do. In 2022 and 2023, we have protected that progress. We want to know from legislative candidates what they will do in 2024 and beyond to keep pushing to reduce the harms caused by Virginia’s criminal legal system.

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