Issue Position: Criminal Justice Reform

Issue Position

CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM
For the past four decades, the focus of criminal justice has been on criminalizing more behavior, increasing punishments, reducing the discretion of judges and juries, eliminating procedural safeguards to eliminate trials, and a focus on offenses and individuals that pose less of a risk to the personal safety of others such as drug offenses. That system has been a failure and resulted in the United States incarcerating more citizens than any country other than China and destroyed millions of families.

We can be both tough on crime and smart at the same time.

We must start with fair laws. While Virginia's misdemeanor-felony threshold was raised to $500 in 2017, it still remains the lowest in the entire United States of America. Felony theft should involve serious property crimes and not the theft of mobile phones or fancy vacuum cleaners.

Virginia needs to begin the process of moving towards the decriminalization of marijuana and a system which takes distribution from the shadows and into an environment where the Commonwealth can tax it, earn revenue, and turn marijuana from a cost to taxpayers to a positive.

Virginia once led the world by requiring juries to render judgments on citizens instead of agents of the government such as judges. Virginia's Declaration of Rights which was the foundation for the U.S. Bill of Rights and inspired constitutions around the world refers to the right to trial by jury as being "sacred." The discretion of our judges and juries to determine built and innocence and render fair sentences has been taken away by legislators looking to substitute their judgment for that of the community after taking into account the circumstances of a crime, the history and circumstances of the accused, and the affects on the victim. This runs counter to Virginia traditions. Mandatory minimum sentences destroy the flexibility of our justice system to render justice for the accused, the victim, and all citizens of the Commonwealth.

Our Juvenile Justice system likewise requires reform. Virginians should be outraged that the Commonwealth leads the country in the School to Prison Pipeline. School Resource Offices (SRO) should be involved in detecting and investigating actual crimes -- not enforcing school discipline.

Our forensic laboratories are currently overwhelmed with drug investigations and narcotics, opiate, and other analyses are backlogged by months due to lack of funding. Virginia's Director of the Department of Forensic Science has testified before the United States Congress that there has been a lack of resources (money, staff, training, and equipment) necessary to promote and maintain strong forensic science laboratory systems. . . . As a State Crime Lab Director, I know that this has in fact been the situation for many of us for some time."

The lack of funding has also resulted in significant turnover in law enforcement personnel. Virginia's State Troopers are some of the lowest paid in the nation. Many complete their three year minimum after being trained by taxpayers and move on to other states or federal law enforcement jobs so they can support their families.

Many Virginia prosecutors' offices have no or limited paralegal support limiting their ability to comply with required discovery obligations or court filing obligations.

Also, to maintain trust in law enforcement, we need to invest in technology. In-car video and body cameras are essential in protecting our law enforcement and our public from the occasional bad apple on the force.

Finally, Virginia's cash bail system has resulted many people being incarcerated for being poor instead of protecting the public. Most studies show that reminders and keeping accused persons informed of the court dates reduces failures to appear in court more than cash bonds. Cash bonds have a place, but they should be reserved for violent criminals, not the poor or homeless with a record of missing court dates.

To reform our criminal justice system, we must:

Raise the misdemeanor-felony threshold to $2,500
Allow the expungement of old charges upon a showing of rehabilitation
Allow for the restoration of all civil rights, including hundreds of miscellaneous civil restrictions upon a showing of rehabilitation and the consent of a judge
Eliminate mandatory minimum sentences and restore judges and jury's ability to render fair sentences
Allow judges to dismiss charges in appropriate cases
Provide full and complete discovery to accused persons
Pay our court personnel living wages.
Invest in funding sufficient prosecutor and prosecutor support positions to allow Commonwealth's Attorneys to invest time is fairly rendering justice
Install body cameras on all police officers
Adequately fund first-class forensic laboratory services
Reform cash bail, invest in supervised release, and use bail for violent criminals
Prohibit School Resource Officers from involvement in school discipline

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