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House Justice Committee Moves Sentencing Reform Forward

Lawmakers may be on the verge of approving legislation that could transform the criminal justice system in Virginia.

But, that’s only if lawmakers decide they can afford it.

What’s the cost of ensuring a defendant has the right to a trial by jury? Because defendants don’t want to be sentenced by juries, many of them decide against a trial by jury. And although the Crime Commission is currently studying exactly how much it’ll cost to have judges sentence defendants in jury trials, that number isn’t available right now.

Delegate Don Scott of Portsmouth says lawmakers need to take action now and figure out the cost later.  “That unfairness, that bias that we know is baked into it, it’s going to cost too much. So what we need to do right now is do another study and kick the can down the road. Well I’m hopeful that we will vote to vote this bill forward, and whatever the hell it costs we need to fix it.”

Most of his colleagues on the Courts of Justice Committee agreed, and they approved the bill.

But it’s not headed to the House floor yet. First it has to go through the Appropriations Committee, where Delegate Vivian Watts fears it might hit a brick wall.  “Whatever number you choose to put on just to send it to Appropriations with the hope that perhaps it can be killed that way is just a numbers game.”

The Senate has already approved the bill, so the real drama on sentencing reform will take place in the Appropriations Committee and, if it makes it that far, the House floor.

The House Courts of Justice committee Tuesday also approved policing reform and sentence credits for prisoners, although members rejected a bill that would have made votes of the Parole Board available to the public.

This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
 

Michael Pope is an author and journalist who lives in Old Town Alexandria.