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Action alert:  We need your help to push back against bias, fear mongering, and scapegoating.

They’re doing it again (this time in Virginia) — at the last minute law makers cut people living with a sex-related conviction out of their signature criminal justice reform legislation (HB-1532).  

There’s a robust nation wide bipartisan campaign to roll back failed “tough on crime” policies — but people with a historical sex-related conviction are in danger of getting left out.  

It’s more important now than ever to demand inclusion for people living on the registry.  

We are stronger together.  Anyone anywhere is welcome to (and needed!) sign the petition calling on Virginia to not replicate the historical patterns of marginalization and exclusion.

Take 60 seconds to sign this important petition to demonstrate our power as a movement.  We need to hear your voice!  

Human rights isn’t an exclusionary value.  If we let our elected representatives start making exceptions to human rights, then they’re no longer human rights.  

In solidarity,
Galen.

We believe in second chances and a just future for everyone.  The goal of any true system of justice must be restoration and reintegration — not perpetual pariahdom and second class citizenship.  Our criminal legal system has headed fullsteam in the wrong direction for decades. Locking up more people and keeping them locked up for longer doesn’t make our communities safer. 

On February 3, 2020, Delegate Don L. Scott accepted amendments to HB-1532 in the house Committee for Courts of Justice that gutted his proposal to reduce incredibly punitive and counterproductive sentences in Virginia.

These expansive carve outs were not the product of meaningful debate, informed by research, or based on evidence.  instead , they were driven by fear and bias — or a crass political decision designed to secure the rights of some on the backs of others. 

This replicates the othering and dehumanization that has defined the failed approach to creating safer communities of the tough on crime era.  Ironically, the two classes of crimes with the lowest recidivism rates have been excluded from the amended version of this bill.

The new majority leading the general assembly was elected to chart a new direction for criminal justice reform grounded in the universal values of equality, dignity, and opportunity — not to repeat the mistakes of the past.  If this bill is passed in its amended state, you will enshrine discrimination in the Virginia Code.  

Restore HB-1532 to its original state!   

Work with us over the next year to build a stronger coalition that will successfully change Virginia’s sentencing laws for everyone in 2021.