New Laws Go Into Effect - July 1, 2021

Thursday July 1, 2021, marks the enactment of several of Justice Forward Virginia’s priority criminal justice reforms in the Commonwealth. Our legislative policy development and statewide advocacy ended presumptions against bail, created degrees of robbery, ended the petit larceny three strikes rule, allowed evidence of mental illness to be presented at trial, created a unified pretrial data collection system, legalized marijuana, abolished the death penalty, ended the jury penalty, and reformed a truly broken probation system in Virginia.

Bail Reform, Death Penalty, Drug Reform, General, Jury Sentencing, Mental Illness, Probation Reform, Sentencing, Trial PenaltyGuest UserJuly 1, 2021

The Urgent Need for Probation Reform

Although probation was originally intended to help people successfully transition from incarceration to the community, it has often served as a no-win situation that ensures their failure, and return to prison, is a burden on an already broken system, and fails to serve as the crutch for re-entry as it was “intended”. Probation is a set up for failure—lengthy supervision, onerous restrictions, constant scrutiny.

Sentencing, Probation ReformGuest UserJanuary 21, 2021

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