New Polling: Virginia voters reject tough-on-crime policies, show widespread support for evidence-informed criminal justice reforms
New Polling: Virginia voters reject tough-on-crime policies, show widespread support for evidence-informed criminal justice reforms

Virginia voters have experienced the positive impacts of criminal justice reforms and they are ready to see public safety funding be spent proactively on strengthening their communities rather than incarcerating even more residents. Virginia-based advocates Sheba Williams, Executive Director of Nolef Turns, Brad Haywood, Arlington County and City of Falls Church Chief Public Defender, Rob Poggenklass, Executive Director of Justice Forward Virginia, and Valerie Slater, Executive Director of RISE for Youth agree that evidence-informed criminal justice reforms keep communities safe.

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Kelly Haywood
The Need For A Second Look In Virginia
The Need For A Second Look In Virginia

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.

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Kelly Haywood
Moving Forward
Moving Forward

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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Kelly Haywood
Looking Back: Virginia Criminal Justice Reforms in 2021
Looking Back: Virginia Criminal Justice Reforms in 2021

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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Kelly Haywood
Professional Diversity and the Court of Appeals
Professional Diversity and the Court of Appeals

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.


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Sentencing, GeneralGuest User
New Laws Go Into Effect - July 1, 2021
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.

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Bail Reform, Death Penalty, Drug Reform, General, Jury Sentencing, Mental Illness, Probation Reform, Sentencing, Trial PenaltyGuest User
Virginia failed to repeal mandatory minimums, but there’s hope for next year
Virginia failed to repeal mandatory minimums, but there’s hope for next year

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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Mandatory Minimum, Drug Reform, Trial PenaltyGuest User
Coalition Statement on Gov. Northam's Marijuana Legalization Amendments
Coalition Statement on Gov. Northam's Marijuana Legalization Amendments

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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Drug ReformMichelle Woolley
Justice Forward Virginia Signs on to Letter Asking Virginia Leaders to Legalize Marijuana in the Right Way
Justice Forward Virginia Signs on to Letter Asking Virginia Leaders to Legalize Marijuana in the Right Way

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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Drug Reform, Expungement, Pretextual Policing, SentencingGuest User
Organization Sign-On Letter In Support of Repealing ALL Mandatory Minimums
Organization Sign-On Letter In Support of Repealing ALL Mandatory Minimums

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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Mandatory Minimum, SentencingMichelle Woolley