Criminal Justice Reform Weekly Roundup - August 28, 2020

State Updates

The Virginia General Assembly Special Session reconvened Monday morning with the House of Delegates first settling on a resolution to allow the House of Delegates to conduct meetings during COVID-19 by electronic means.

The House Public Safety Committee met Tuesday voting 13-9 to report out Del. Herring's civilian oversight bill including subpoena power with a substitute to mandate CRB’s everywhere. Additionally, the House made a 13-9 vote to report/refer HB 5043 to Appropriations. HB 5043 would create a Marcus Alert system to send community care teams to mental health crisis calls rather than a police officer. HB 5049 limiting military equipment for police passed 13-8 on to the Appropriations Committee as well.

The Senate Judiciary Committee met Wednesday. Sen. Morrissey's bill (SB 5065) on qualified immunity & Sen. Edwards’ restoring parole were both passed by for more study. In a huge win for Justice Forward VA’s priority legislation however, Sen. Surovell's bill (SB 5032) to eliminate the mandatory minimum for assault on police passed the Senate 21-15. The bill is one step in ensuring the punishment is proportionate to the crime and that individuals with mental incapacity are treated with the care they deserve.

The House Courts of Justice Committee also met Wednesday where a bill to eliminate No-knock warrants passed. But the biggest news was another Justice Forward VA priority piece of legislation, Del. Hope’s racial profiling and pretextual policing bill, HB 5058. The bill reported out of committee 13-7. A huge stride in racial justice for the state.

Thursday Sen. Surovell’s bill SB 5045 to measure savings to the Commonwealth in the fiscal impact statements of bills that would reduce the adult prison population passed the Senate 21-13-1.  

And on a perfect note to close out the week and in another huge stride for racial justice, Sen. Lucas’ pretextual policing SB 5029 passed in the Senate Friday morning with a 21-15 vote. The bill bans police searches based off of the smell of marijuana. Del. Hope’s pretextual policing HB 5058 also addresses the issue citing any discovery upon a search is non admissible in court. Thousands of Virginians are subject to these kinds of stops and searches every year, and Black and Brown people are disproportionately the targets. The bill is expected to pass during a full house vote later this month, and then differences between the House and Senate version will need to be worked out before it can become law. Both are a monumental decision and step to defeating racial profiling and bringing equity to policing practices. Virginia Mercury provides more details about the need for the proposed law.

Virginia law currently ensures that no one convicted of a crime can ever have that offense removed from their record. The law also does not allow for the expungement of some kinds of charges from your record, even if you were not convicted of the offense. Expungement legislation was considered during the 2020 regular session, but rather than passing a law, the issue was referred to the Virginia Crime Commission for review. The Virginia Crime Commission has drafted a bill that proposes that certain crimes be automatically expunged and details how long a period of time needs to elapse before that happens. The legislature will then consider whether or not to move forward on this automatic expungement bill during the special session. (Connection Newspapers)

The Virginia Crime Commission meets Monday at 10 am and will be taking testimony on two of our priorities that are before it for study: expungements and earned sentence credits. Watch online or sign up to testify.  

House Appropriations will also meet on Tuesday at 2 pm and will start taking up reform measures that have been referred to that Committee. Watch the Livestream.

A mounting controversy stemming from the destruction of a Confederate monument in Portsmouth, Virginia, intensified this week after a white city resident brought criminal charges against the city’s Black vice mayor. Vice Mayor Lisa Lucas-Burke called for the resignation of the police chief in Portsmouth following arrests made two months following the incident. The Vice Mayor has been charged with breaking an obscure provision in the city charter, “noninterference in appointments or removals”. Senator Lucas, a relative of Lucas-Burke, was booked on a felony warrant issued by the police after other agencies refused to do so, along with about a dozen several civil rights leaders, advocates, and public defenders. (Huffington Post)

The Norfolk, VA NAACP hosted a town hall Thursday led by Congresswoman Elaine Luria. The event touched on social injustice, diversity and police reform in Hampton Roads and beyond. Luria is one of the cosponsors of the Justice in Policing Act. The legislation ends police chokeholds, no-knock warrants and the practice of what’s called “qualified immunity.”

“It is a judicial precedent that makes it incredibly hard for someone to seek justice if their constitutional rights have been violated by the police,” she said. The act also creates a national database of police misconduct and provides more funding for police training. On a local level, Luria urged cities to form citizen review boards. “I think police are part of our community. They serve to protect our community but they have to be accountable to someone other than themselves,” she said. (Wavy.com)

Other Updates

Data studies in Albuquerque, New Mexico are unveiling major racial discrepancies in pretextual policing cases. Like Virginia, Black and Brown residents are more than twice as likely to be pulled over by police for reasons linked to pretextual laws. Data is unveiling this is big business for government there, with 93% of court dates resulting in bench warrants that include large fines and drivers license suspensions. Studies are also revealing the number of secondary citations (findings after the stop) are dealt to Black and Brown residents at an alarmingly larger rate. (Counterpunch.org)

An analysis of court records in Washington State Net Nanny (sex offender) sting operations, as well as interviews with police and prosecutors, reveal that most of the men arrested never touched a child, have no felony record and are sentenced, on average, to more than six years in prison with no chance of parole. Once released, the men are listed on the state’s sex-offender registry for at least 10 years — and often for life. Although the majority of incidents constitute entrapment, defendants, most who claim innocence, are unwilling to use the entrapment claim in court proceedings as the nature of such defense would require them to admit to wrongdoing. Comparably, defendants in the state whom actually commit child rape and even murder are sentenced using the same guidelines, have a felony history, and are a proven threat to the community. The New York Times’ data-heavy article weighs a broad range of discrepancies between sentencing, the sting’s funding and support, and the impacts of harsh sentencing of defendants. It also discusses how legislation in Washington could provide relief for those catfished by officers in Net Nanny stings. (New York Times)

Twenty-nine year old Jacob Blake was paralyzed from the waist down after being shot by the police 7 times in the back, all in front of his three young sons. Demonstrations over Mr. Blake’s shooting, a Black man from Kenosha, WI, have resounded across the country this week. Protests in Kenosha turned violent mid week when vigilantes descended upon the Wisconsin town, killing two protesters and injuring one. The Kenosha Police Department has faced intense public backlash for Mr. Blake’s shooting and its stark contrast in the handling of vigilante shooter, 17 year old Kyle Rittenhouse. Critics of the department say it has been consistently slow to adopt changes and build trust among Kenosha residents and the police department, even after national calls to do so in recent years. (New York Times)

In response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake, multiple teams across the NBA, WNBA, MLS, NHL and MLB have leveraged their platforms this week demanding calls for social change. In solidarity, athletes across the entire professional sports landscape boycotted games, refusing to play, instead imploring fans to focus their attention on systemic racism and calling for racial justice throughout the country. (The Harvard Crimson)  

Thousands gathered in Washington, D.C. Friday morning for the “Get Your Knee Off Our Necks” Commitment March in memory of the 57th anniversary of MLK’s historic March on Washington. The event was led by Al Sharpton’s National Action Network in partnership with the NAACP, National Urban League, Hispanic Federation, unions, clergy, civil rights groups, and family members of Americans slain by police. The event held at the Lincoln Memorial called for racial justice nationwide, closing with a march to the MLK memorial. (Washington Post)

Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman passed away Friday at 43 after a 4 year battle with colon cancer. Black Panther, King of Wakanda, was a leader best known for his heart. Boseman’s role in the award winning film solidified the fictional African country Wakanda and its ideals into the hearts and minds of millions around the globe. The utopia stands for many things, but foremost an example of an advanced and peaceful society focused on putting people first. Our thoughts and condolences are with those closest to him, his legacy lives on. Wakanda Forever. (BBC)