Criminal Justice Reform Weekly Roundup - August 14, 2020
Justice Forward Virginia Weekly News Roundup
State Updates
Virginia General Assembly Special Session convenes this Tuesday, August 18, 2020. The specifics of the General Assembly's special session next week are not yet finalized, other than that the session will start on Tuesday. It is likely that the session will last several weeks, and involve virtual and some in-person meetings. The session will focus on the budget, pandemic relief measures, and criminal justice reform.
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam highlighted several of his priorities Friday afternoon for the upcoming special session of the General Assembly, set to begin Tuesday, August 18th. The Governor took to Twitter to note this session is an opportunity to take long overdue action on police reform. “My top priorities include standardizing mandatory training requirements (including on use of force), empowering civilian review boards, and making it easier to de-certify bad officers.” He also noted his interest in continuing discussions with lawmakers ahead of session and in advance of next session. And hopes to “increase police accountability, transparency, and community engagement.”
Virginia lawmakers are considering banning no-knock warrants and creating a new requirement that judges, not magistrates, must sign off on search warrants that are to be executed at night. Said Andy Elders, Justice Forward Virginia’s policy director: “Kicking down people’s doors in the middle of the night . . . creates volatile situations where people are more likely to feel threatened, and someone is more likely to get hurt in the end.” [Alexandria Gazette]
Ahead of the special session, Virginia House Democrats present a series of plans for criminal justice. Criminal justice reform proposals include efforts to limit racial profiling using pretext stops, expand and streamline expungement of criminal charges, and increasing good time credit for those already serving sentences. Their agenda also features police reforms including a ban on police chokeholds, ending qualified immunity for police misconduct, prohibition of sexual relations between officers and arrestees, an expansion of the definition of hate crimes to include false 911 calls made on the basis of race, establishment of law enforcement duty to intervene in the event of a fellow officer’s misconduct, and other reforms. [The Washington Post]
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring prioritizes mandatory body cameras ahead of next week’s special session. The AG said he will also support proposals to “expand police decertification criteria to include misconduct, not just criminal convictions, as well as establish a robust database of officer discipline, terminations and decertification.” [WTOP]
As of this week, 1,097 people have been reviewed for early release from Virginia Department of Corrections facilities following the ACLU settlement; another 38 people were released this week, making a total of 827 medically vulnerable people who have been released in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. [ACLU of Virginia]
Earlier this summer, the Office of the Attorney General, the ACLU of Virginia and Charlottesville attorney Elliott Harding and Gov. Ralph Northam, Secretary of Public Safety Brian Moran, among other state officials reached a settlement regarding medically vulnerable people in Virginia Department of Corrections custody during the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the settlement, the Department is required to disclose the number of individuals that have been reviewed for early release to avoid exposure to COVID-19, as well as the number that are ultimately granted an early release. [ACLU of Virginia]
Virginian-Pilot investigation found 36 Virginia officers convicted of crimes since 2011 who were never decertified. It is unclear whether these officers still work in law enforcement. Virginia lawmakers discuss reforms to better hold officers accountable for misconduct and to reduce the instances of officers resigning and obtaining new employment to avoid consequences. [Virginian-Pilot] The Virginian-Pilot created a graphic of this information here.
Former Governor Terry McAuliffe discussed police reform and 2020 with WSLS 10 this week. He remarked, “I’d like to see more money for mental health. Many of these police officers just don’t have the training to deal with these mental health issues. So, we need to be more community based.” [WSLS 10]
Other Updates
Fairfax County Police released a breakout of arrest data enumerating arrests of Latino persons in 2019. As expected, separating white and Latino arrests into different categories demonstrates more starkly the disparate treatment of Black people by the police. [ACLU Fairfax/Fairfax County PD]
As proposals to remove police from schools gain momentum, a few rural jurisdictions are expressing opposition. School boards in Bristol Scott County and Smyth County all signed letters in support of School Resource Officers. Bristol City Council did the same this week. [WCYB 5]
As Virginia lawmakers prepare to address police conduct in Virginia, the Washington Post releases a report on the legal justifications for harmful searches of D.C. residents’ homes following seemingly unrelated arrests. [The Washington Post]