2023: What to Ask Candidates About Criminal Justice Reform

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.

1. Do you agree or disagree: Virginia’s criminal legal system has caused untold harm to people and communities of color—harm that must be undone, through reforms that prioritize racial justice and equity. 

2. More than 100 years ago, the United States banned the manufacture, sale and transportation of a deadly drug: alcohol. Prohibition failed. Yet the Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission says between 2018 and 2020, Virginia convicted more than 20,000 people of felony drug possession. Why is possession of drugs like cocaine, ecstasy and psilocybin a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years in prison? Should it even be a crime? Do you support defelonization and eventual decriminalization of drug possession? If so, under what conditions? 

3. In the last few years, Virginia law enforcement agencies have begun using facial recognition technology and automatic license plate readers to surveil Virginians. Drones and artificial intelligence are next. Do you support or oppose giving law enforcement unlimited access to technology that’s used to track the movements of Virginians?

4. Mandatory minimum sentences allow prosecutors to decide whether a person exercises their constitutional right to a trial, by creating a potential sentence so long that the person will consider pleading guilty to avoid spending decades in prison. Do you support abolishing all mandatory minimum sentences? If not, why?

5. Do you support Second Look legislation, which would allow anyone who has served at least 15 years of their sentence an opportunity to go before a judge and present evidence of their rehabilitation, with the possibility of being released from prison?

6. Assault on a law enforcement officer is a Class 6 felony in Virginia, carrying up to five years in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of 6 months in jail, even if the officer was unharmed. Do you support repealing the mandatory minimum for this crime? Do you support repealing the crime of assault on law enforcement altogether, which would make assault on law enforcement a Class 1 misdemeanor, punishable by up to 12 months in jail or a $2,500 fine?

7. Failure to appear in court for a misdemeanor is a crime in Virginia, punishable by up to 12 months in jail, while failure to appear in court for a felony is a Class 6 felony, punishable by up to 5 years in prison. Studies suggest that most people who fail to appear in court do so because they forgot or didn’t have transportation. Do you support or oppose decriminalizing failure to appear in court?

8. A child who is found guilty of a misdemeanor in juvenile court has that record expunged after five years. But a child who is found guilty of a felony in juvenile court in Virginia keeps that record for life. Do you support expungement of juvenile felonies?

9. In the last four years, Virginia has abolished the death penalty, ended mandatory jury sentencing, legalized marijuana, limited the ability of law enforcement to stop people for minor traffic violations, repealed driver’s license suspensions based on fines and fees, and enacted dozens of other positive reforms. What change to criminal justice policy would you most like to see the General Assembly approve next?

10. Have you visited with people in a jail or prison in the Commonwealth in the last five years? If not, when do you plan to visit one?