Tag: SB 842
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Virginia Senate Approves Early-Release Bill for Many Inmates
by Hans Bader The Virginia Senate has voted 24 to 15 to approve SB 842, the so-called “second look” bill. If it becomes law, inmates who have been in prison for 15 years or more could ask to be released, or ask for a reduction in their sentences. Originally, the bill applied to inmates of…
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Virginia Dems Loathe No-Parole Laws
by Kerry Dougherty What do you do if you’re a soft-on-crime Democrat legislator in a no-parole commonwealth? You get creative. You find ways around the no-parole law that took effect back in the mid-1990s when Virginia was experiencing a crime wave similar to the one sweeping parts of the commonwealth now. Democrats in the State Senate…
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‘Second-Look’ Bill to Release Inmates Is Back Without Safeguards
by Hans Bader In 2022, legislation allowing inmates to seek a reduction in their sentence after 15 years in prison passed the Virginia state Senate, but died in a 5-to-3 vote in a House subcommittee after a lobbyist for the bill boasted it would empty two entire Virginia prisons. The bill, SB 378, was viewed by…