Virginia CURE 2010

Legislative Priorities

Virginia’s growth in imprisonment rate per 100,000 residents was 8^th highest of all states from 2000 to 2008. Virginia taxpayers spent 7.6% percent of the state budget on corrections in FY 2008, 10-12% more than the national average in 2007 and 2008. Yet, the high rate of incarceration in Virginia did not reduce crime any more than in states with shrinking incarceration rates.¹ See also Table: Crime & Imprisonment 2000, 2008 & Weighted Averages.

With the average inmate costing Virginia $25,000 per year (and older inmates up to $70,000 per year), and with diminishing revenues for education, transportation, and other vital infrastructure investments needed to strengthen Virginia’s economy, it pays to get smart on crime by considering more effective approaches.

• Virginia C.U.R.E. supports the proposal in the Governor’s budget to extend the work of the Task Force on Alternatives to Incarceration for Non Violent Offenders; expand its membership to include faith-based organizations, reentry specialists, and inmates’ family members; and implement its recommendations presented to a joint committee of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance committees last fall. In particular, Virginia C.U.R.E. supports proposals for:

• Alternatives to incarceration for technical probation and parole violators

• Residential treatment programs and drug and mental health courts

• Increased emphasis on prison and post-release reentry support programs

• Reform of policies and procedures for parole and geriatric release

• Virginia C.U.R.E. supports the proposal in the Governor’s budget to implement a statewide system for GPS and other electronic monitoring as alternatives to incarceration for selected offenders.

• Virginia C.U.R.E. supports the proposal in the Governor’s budget promoting use of risk assessment guidelines in making parole decisions, and urges that appropriate guidelines be implemented for use by late 2010.

• Virginia C.U.R.E. supports legislation eliminating unnecessary barriers to reentry, including

• Opportunity to expunge criminal records after a reasonable period of time

• State opt out of denial of federal TANF benefits for drug offenders

• Restoration of voting rights to ex-offenders

• Virginia C.U.R.E. supports legislation such as SB 585 requiring courts in areas served by juvenile detention facilities to provide for legal representation to juveniles experiencing sexual and other abuses. A recent U.S. Justice Department report identifies two Virginia juvenile detention facilities as among the highest in the nation for reports of sexual abuse. See The Washington Post, Jan. 8, 2010.

• Virginia C.U.R.E. opposes legislation such as HB1004 that extends existing restrictions on sex offenders after their release. Current efforts to comply with SORNA and the Adam Walsh Act will cost upwards of $12 million without providing real public safety benefits.

• Virginia C.U.R.E. opposes legislation such as SB 7 that would extend capital punishment to those other than the “triggerman.” Such proposals would result in extensive and costly additional litigation expense, increase the numbers of potentially innocent defendants put to death by mistake, and provide no demonstrable benefit beyond the severe penalties already meted out for first degree murder.