Justice Forward Virginia is Seeking to Add Three New Board Members.
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The Need for a Second Look in Virginia—A February 2022 report by the nonpartisan Justice Policy Institute—analyzes Virginia’s heavy-handed reliance on lengthy prison sentences and reveals how extreme sentences play a significant role in our mass incarceration crisis and surging geriatric prison population. The number of people in Virginia’s prison system, which declined for the first time in 2009 after four decades of growth, has plateaued in recent years and remains plagued with dysfunction that keeps people locked up for extremely long sentences, disproportionately impacting Black families, and costing Virginia taxpayers a BILLION dollars a year.
Nothing embodies the public defender experience quite like a rousing game of “Oh, you think that’s bad?” This is a time-honored tradition where defenders from different jurisdictions take turns one-upping each other with the arcane and draconian criminal laws and procedures that endanger the freedom and lives of the people they represent, in the various courthouses where they practice.
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2021 was a tumultuous year in so many ways. The murder of George Floyd, and the shock so many of us felt as we watched videos of police abusing Americans, opened people’s eyes to the excesses of the criminal justice system. In Virginia, dedicated state-level advocacy and some courageous legislators created a unique opportunity. The result was the most meaningful and comprehensive changes to Virginia’s criminal justice system in its history
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January 13th, 2022 marks the start of the Virginia General Assembly General Session. In its annual tradition, Justice Forward will host its “Prep Rally”— to better inform and mobilize advocates to effectively lobby for meaningful criminal justice reform in 2022.
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The 2022 Virginia General Assembly Session starts Wednesday January 12th, and in preparation we’ll be hosting our annual Lobby Day(s) virtually. Sign up to advocate with us.
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Until 2020, the United States had never truly reckoned with the legacy of racism inherited by its criminal legal system. Then, all at once, a reckoning was unavoidable. In nine minutes and 29 seconds caught on video, the life of a Black man, George Floyd, was brutally extinguished by a police officer who rejected Floyd’s right even to the breath in his lungs.
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JFV letter to the General Assembly expressing support for increased professional diversity on the Court of Appeals. Professional diversity is one important way to ensure that the judges of the Court of Appeals understand the intersection of the law with the lives of disadvantaged people. Unfortunately, for many years our appellate courts have suffered from a lack of diversity in many respects. Seven of the ten current judges worked as prosecutors or in the Office of the Attorney General. None of the current judges spent their careers as public defenders, legal aid lawyers, or civil rights lawyers.
Justice Forward Virginia joined We Demand Justice and over 55 other partner organizations in in calling out unfair attacks on public defenders nominated to federal judgeships and supporting efforts to increase professional diversity in our federal courts.
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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.
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Saturday February 27th, lawmakers assigned to reconcile Senate Bill 1443 and House Bill 2331 regarding the Repeal of Mandatory Minimum Sentencing in Virginia, failed to reach a compromise on bill language, and as a result the proposed legislation died in conference. We could not be more disappointed that the legislature failed to repeal mandatory minimums this session, particularly when the proposed legislation had no real opposition. The Virginia Crime Commission recommended the repeal of all mandatory minimums in the Commonwealth. Countless lawmakers, including leadership in both chambers, have campaigned and continue to campaign on a promise to repeal mandatory minimum sentencing for all. Mandatory minimums are a racial justice issue, a human rights issue, they are an insult to civil liberties, and we will not stop fighting until the General Assembly ceases allowing this injustice to exist.
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Amidst a historic civil rights movement focused on criminal justice reform, we need to know which candidates support the movement & which will allow it to stagnate. Here are the questions we'd like answered from Terry McCauliffe, Jennifer Carroll Foy, Jennifer McClellan, Justin Fairfax, and Lee J. Carter.
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Gov. Ralph Northam’s announcement to repeal the prohibition on simple marijuana possession as of July 1, 2021 is the first step toward ending racist marijuana law enforcement. The ACLU of Virginia, Marijuana Justice, RISE for Youth, and Justice Forward Virginia applaud the governor for understanding that justice delayed is justice denied. We urge the legislature to approve the governor’s amendment, which will legalize possession of less than one ounce and reduce the charge for possession of one ounce to one pound to a civil penalty, effective July 1.
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Statement of Justice Forward Virginia’s Executive Director, Brad R. Haywood, on Governor Northam signing into law abolition of the death penalty on March 24, 2021
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Get the 2021 Legislative Lowdown straight from some our favorite lawmakers. Join Justice Forward Virginia, Senator Jennifer McClellan, Delegate Nancy Guy, and Delegate Jeff Bourne—Monday March 22nd, 2021 at 8PM on Facebook Live.
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Join us Thursday, March 11 at 7pm for our post session roundup, “I Survived Crim Sub,” a discussion about session, success, and where we go next
VIRGINIA POLL: By a +43 point margin, Virginia voters across party lines strongly support allowing Virginia judges and juries to consider evidence about a defendant's mental state and mental illnesses in criminal trials.
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On February 9, 2021, Justice Forward Virginia, along with 24 other organizations, sent a letter to Governor of Virginia Ralph Northam and Virginia lawmakers, laying out five criteria for marijuana legalization that will center racial equity and the people and communities most impacted by decades of the War on Drugs.
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Justice Forward joined with FAMM, ACLU of Virginia, Americans for Prosperity Virginia, Humanization Project, Interfaith Action for Human Rights, and the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance in signing a letter to House of Delegates leadership urging the House of Delegates to follow the state crime commission's recommendation and repeal all mandatory minimum sentences.
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Justice Forward Virginia sent a letter to Senator Edwards and Leader Herring about the upcoming decision of whether to expand the Court of Appeals. JFV supports the expansion and believes that adding seats would present an opportunity to diversify the bench.
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