Get Informed About Criminal Justice Reform: Mental Health

December 18, 2024 from 6:30PM-7:30PM on Facebook Live: The criminal legal system harms people and communities. It criminalizes race, poverty, mental health, substance use, and disabilities. The obstacles to criminal legal reform often seem insurmountable. Entire institutions exist just to preserve the status quo and they have a great deal of influence over legislation. Justice Forward Virginia was founded by public defenders—our leadership team sees injustice first-hand and knows a smarter approach. That's why we're hosting a series of virtual expert panels: Get Informed About Criminal Justice Reform.

Part three of our four-part series of virtual Facebook Live events focuses on Mental Health and the Criminal Legal System. Did you know that mass incarceration is the country’s de facto mental health care? In Virginia, Governor Glenn Youngkin has made a commitment to getting Virginians the Right Help Right Now to include relieving law enforcement burdens and curbing the criminalization of mental health. Justice Forward Virginia has built a huge coalition of support for 2025 legislation that compliments the governor’s plan.

On Wednesday December 18, 2024 subject matter experts will go live on Facebook at 6:30 p.m. We’ll be joined by—Bradley R. Haywood, former Chief Public Defender of Arlington and the City of Falls Church and Founder of Justice Forward Virginia; Kimberly Stover, former public defender, board member at Justice Forward Virginia, and Founder of the Law Office of Kimberly Stover; Dr. Steven Keener, board member at Justice Forward Virginia and Director of the Center for Crime, Equity, and Justice Research and Policy at CNU, and Bryan Kennedy the Senior Assistant Public Defender for the Office of the Public Defender in Fairfax, Virginia—to assist us in discussing why Virginia lawmakers must make efforts to protect and create respite for our most vulnerable populations from arrest and prosecution–keeping people out of the criminal legal system who do not belong there.