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During his State of the Commonwealth address, Gov. Ralph Northam laid out a focus on criminal justice reforms. (Photo: Craig Carper/VPM News)
Virginia Democrats and some Republicans have a range of criminal justice-related issues they plan to tackle during the upcoming legislative session. Most of the proposals are holdovers from 2020 when disagreements between the House and Senate stalled action on key reforms. This year they’ll consider abolishing the death penalty, restoring voting rights for felons, and the automatic expungement of criminal records among other priorities.
Gov. Ralph Northam announced this week that he will support a proposal to end capital punishment.
Both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly opened their legislative session Wednesday afternoon with condolences and mourning for the late state Sen. Ben Chafin, who died of COVID-19 complications.