Press Releases

ACLU-VA Urged Governor Northam to Bring Transparency to Executions in Virginia

Today, the ACLU of Virginia sent a letter to Governor of Virginia Ralph Northam urging him to act with dispatch to ensure that Virginia’s protocols for administering the death penalty exemplify the highest standards of transparency and accountability.
Issue Areas: Criminal Legal Reform

Report: Virginia’s Use of Solitary Confinement is in Need of Drastic Reform; ACLU of Virginia Calls for Governor to Sign Executive Order

The report calls for solitary confinement to be banned in state prisons except “only in rare and exceptional cases, for the shortest duration, with the least restrictive setting necessary and only when the prisoner poses a credible continuing and serious threat to the security others."
Issue Areas: Criminal Legal Reform

Advocacy groups oppose bi-partisan ‘deal’ on felony larceny threshold'

The organizations listed below support an increase in Virginia’s felony larceny threshold but oppose the so-called bipartisan compromise that traded an increase in the threshold for passage of legislation enhancing the enforcement of restitution orders entered in criminal cases.
Issue Areas: Criminal Legal Reform

ACLU-VA Opposes Virginia's DNA Databank Expansion

The ACLU of Virginia sent a letter today to the Virginia State Crime Commission expressing its opposition to the possible expansion of the list of misdemeanors for which DNA collection from offenders would be mandatory upon conviction.
Issue Areas: Criminal Legal Reform

ACLU of Virginia Urges Crime Commission to Support Marijuana Decriminalization

Today, the ACLU of Virginia sent a letter to the Virginia State Crime Commission to express its support of marijuana decriminalization in the state. The letter listed four primary reasons why the time is ripe for Virginia to remove criminal penalties from Virginia’s marijuana statute.
Issue Areas: Criminal Legal Reform

ACLU-VA Raises Transparency Concerns over Virginia State Police’s Actions at Sept. 16 Rally in Richmond

Updated: The superintendent of the Virginia State Police responded to our letter and said officers will not be allowed to cover their uniform name strips in the future.

ACLU-VA Calls for Removal of Confederate Monuments and Memorials

Virginia should no longer support the display on public property of symbols that divide rather than unite, evoke white supremacy instead of equality, and inspire violence instead of peace.
Issue Areas: Criminal Legal Reform