News & Commentary

The ACLU of Virginia commends the Governor of Virginia Ralph Northam for signing criminal legal reform legislation that would help reduce Virginia’s overdependence on incarceration and bring more justice to our system.

The exponential spread of COVID-19 has made one thing clear: America is jailing way too many people in substandard, dangerous conditions that are highly susceptible to outbreaks of contagious illnesses.

We are asking our community leaders and law enforcement to recognize, however, that now is the time to rethink how our jails and prisons are not effective ways to address the social and community ills of poverty and drug use.

In light of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic now spreading through America and across the Commonwealth, we have closed our physical office temporarily and are continuing our work remotely. 

Black History Month ends today, but racial injustices persist and remain a pervasive part of Black lives and Black experiences in America. It is important to take a long hard look at the history we carry and examine systems of racial oppression and how they manifest in modern-day Virginia.

In early January, Gov. Ralph Northam introduced his agenda, which included “marijuana decriminalization,” giving the illusion that Virginia is moving toward actual criminal legal reforms. Unfortunately, HB 972 would cause more harm to Black and brown people and criminalize youth,

The only way to stop the harm of marijuana laws against people of color is to repeal the prohibition on marijuana possession and use from the code completely.This is the first step in the right direction to eliminating racist drug enforcement.

By Paul Smith, vice president of Campaign Legal Center, and Claire Gastañaga, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia. This op-ed was originally published in The Roanoke Times on Sunday, Feb.9, 2020.

By Valerie Slater, executive director, RISE for Youth