Get Informed Part VI: Criminal Justice Reform All Star Q&A
Still have questions about police reform as we approach the special legislative session? Tune in on August 12 from 6:30-8:00pm when we're bringing back some of the most popular guests from our "Get Informed About Police Reform" explainer series! Sen. Scott Surovell and Del. Don Scott will join us for the first half of the Q&A, to answer your questions about criminal justice reform generally, its prospects in the special session, and specific legislation that is being proposed. Then we'll rotate the panelists and bring Sarah Burke (People's Coalition and former Charlottesville CRB) and Yohance Whitaker (Legal Aid Justice Center) on board to answer your questions about civilian oversight of law enforcement. The event will be co-moderated by Justice Forward's own Ashley Shapiro and Brad Haywood.
If you haven't been keeping track, over the past six weeks, Justice Forward Virginia has sought to help non-lawyers and others new to the criminal justice reform advocacy community better understand what real, meaningful police reform and criminal justice reform looks like. We've discussed:
- Which changes are most needed in Virginia and why
- How pretextual policing enables police to act on their implicit and explicit bias
- The assault on law enforcement statute and how it's much more controversial than it sounds
- What the components are of robust, effective, community-oriented civilian oversight of law enforcement.
- Why Virginia ought to consider removing police officers from schools
- Mandatory minimums
- And police reforms that *don't* work
Over the course over our explainer series, many of you have asked questions that we haven't had time to answer during those already packed sessions, and many questions arose after our events were over. That's why we assembled another expert panel: to get you some answers, and help you know what to expect from the special session this August, as well as the next regular session of the General Assembly starting in January.
The live feed will be available on Facebook Live, and will be recorded and posted to YouTube.
If you have questions you'd like our experts to answer, please email us at info@justiceforwardva.com or post them in the event discussion! Hope to see you on August 12!