Justice Forward VA
LightNews LightNews
banner
justicefwdva.bsky.social
Justice Forward VA
@justicefwdva.bsky.social
980 followers 200 following 150 posts
Founded by public defenders. Promoting criminal justice reform in Virginia by drafting & lobbying for humane, evidence-informed legislation, and educating & mobilizing advocates for action.
Posts Replies Media Videos
justicefwdva.bsky.social
In 2017, public defenders banded together with first-hand stories of arcane criminal laws & procedures that harm the people they represent and Justice Forward Virginia was founded. We’ve made progress but there’s still work to do! Defense lawyers join us: us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
Image: Justice Forward Virginia logo. Text: legalized marijuana possession, abolished the death penalty, repealed mandatory jury sentencing; the “habitual drunkard” law; and petit larceny third, created “degrees” of robbery that reflect the seriousness of the crime, made it so that indigent defendants could obtain expert assistance without disclosing trial strategy to their adversary, created a record-sealing process for convictions up to Class 5 felonies, ended presumptions against bail, reformed probation laws by placing limits on how long a person can be incarcerated for so-called technical violations of probation, ended racist pretext stops—the first state in the entire country, barred police searches based solely on the odor of marijuana, increased compensation for court appointed counsel,banned youth shackling, reformed PB-15s, opposed harmful legislation, protected our progress, and more.
November 2, 2025 at 5:34 PM