NJJN members, Legal Aid Justice Center, RISE for Youth, and the Virginia Coalition for the Fair Sentencing of Youth together advocated for significant victories this legislative session.
Perhaps most notably, NJJN’s newest member, the Virginia Coalition for the Fair Sentencing of Youth led the effort to repeal the state’s long standing Juvenile Life Without Parole provision. “For years, we’ve been organizing young people sentenced to life without parole and pushing for the state to change its policy of throwing away young people,” said Jana White a Juvenile Justice Advocate with the Coalition. “After years of advocating, the state finally recognized that youth are capable of change. Now the fight continues to ensure those inside facilities get parole hearings.”
According to NJJN National Partner the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, the newly passed legislation “grants parole eligibility after 20 years of incarceration to all people in Virginia who were under the age of 18 at the time of their offense. It therefore automatically bans sentencing children to life without the possibility of parole, making Virginia the 23rd state in the country (in addition to the District of Columbia) to abolish this barbaric practice.”
In addition to banning life without parole, Virginia advocates supported an array of sentencing reform bills, which passed the legislature. Of note, Virginia raised the age at which a young person can be transferred or directly filed to adult court from 14 to 15, passed legislation allowing judges to use their discretion rather than adhering to mandatory minimums when sentencing youth, and passed legislation which expanded parole eligibility.
Amy Woolard of the Legal Aid Justice Center cited that while passing the legislation was a critical step forward for Virginia, more work remains to be done. “We’d love to see full elimination of all transfers and direct file of youth, so all young people can be offered rehabilitative services. We believe this is a step in the right direction, and we hope the momentum continues to ensure all kids are treated like kids.”
On the front end, RISE for Youth in partnership with NJJN National Partner Youth First!, pushed “Healthy Communities Secure Care Legislation,” which would ensure that all youth would be served within their home community in small home-like facilities not to exceed 30 beds. The legislation introduced this session saw significant movement, but in the end was referred to a Senate Study. Valerie Slater, YJLI Alum, and RISE for Youth ED stated, “Virginia has a unique opportunity to reform our juvenile justice system in a way that is in the best interest of our youth, promotes public safety, and allows us to better use public dollars to support Virginia’s youth and communities. We believe the Senate study will be a tool that supports Healthy Communities Secure Care as the best way forward for young Virginians in state care and their families.”
With respect to keeping kids safe in schools, the Legal Aid Justice Center with support from RISE for Youth, helped pass a bill to prevent any student from being charged with Disorderly Conduct, prevent the mandatory notification of law enforcement for all school-based misdemeanors and status-offenses, and passed a trio of bills around school policing to tighten training protocols to make them more responsive to students, to make school Memorandums of Understandings more transparent and accessible to communities so they can play a larger role in their development, and a bill to mandate data collection around student and School Resource Officer interactions disaggregated by demographics and locality.
It’s clear that advocates pushed the state to take great strides forward for youth in Virginia, and we look forward to supporting them as the fight for justice continues.