Republicans are taking aim at a system that allows some incarcerated people to earn credits toward early release. Democrats are pushing back.
Senate Republicans say 34 people are not alive today because they were murdered by people who were let out of Virginia prisons after earning credits for early release. To make that claim, they point to a recent report from the Department of Corrections.
"As we look at the policy decisions we make, they have real impacts on Virginia," Senate Republican leader Ryan McDougle said. "Those impacts are now there are more victims, there are more people struggling with having been assaulted and families are having to deal with loved ones who are no longer with them because they were killed."
The bill expanding the earned sentence credits was introduced back in 2020 by a freshman House Democrat named Don Scott. He's now Speaker of the House, and he says Republicans are twisting the facts.
"Unfortunately, the Republicans are not as upset when the 34-time convicted felon in the White House has turned around and pardoned 1,500 of the most heinous criminals and not said a word without vetting them," Scott said. Scott was referring to President Donald Trump's pardons of people convicted of crimes related to the January 6th, 2021 attack on the U. S. capitol.
Scott said some people who leave prison are going to commit crimes again. But, he noted, Virginia's recidivism rate is among the lowest in the country. And he also pointed to recent FBI data that shows crime down in every category.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
