By: Elizabeth Vanesse Virginia’s newly-inaugurated governor, Glenn Youngkin, targeted the shortcomings of the Virginia Parole Board during his campaign. Youngkin’s campaign promised law and order, stricter sentencing, and fewer releases.[1] Although Youngkin’s campaign did target some structural issues within the Board itself, namely that it erred in not notifying a victim’s family before releasing a man who had been granted parole, fact checkers have raised … Continue reading Virginia’s Parole Board: How the Gubernatorial Race Shaped (or Misshaped) Public Understanding

By: Teresa Sun “Why am I still sitting here? Why can’t you just talk to the prosecutor and they will drop the charges?” After dozens of repeat phone calls to the public defender’s office, the client was still hung up on the question. He was charged with possession of a Schedule I controlled substance with intent to distribute, and the people around him have been … Continue reading New Cannibis Law in Virginia: Confusions and Disappointments Until At Least 2025

By: Hannah Laub More than eight out of ten Americans believe that DNA evidence is completely reliable or very reliable, and nearly seven in ten think the same about fingerprint evidence.[1] Faith in the validity of forensic evidence is echoed in pop culture, where crime television and film present the evidence as almost infallible in a courtroom. Average Americans determine whether criminal defendants are guilty … Continue reading The Unreliability of Forensic Evidence and Politicization Impeding Reform

By: Owen Giordano The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a wide swath of changes to the public since its onset in late 2019. While the most apparent legal implication concern questions of vaccine mandates[1] and agency actions citing public health concerns,[2] the pandemic has also ushered major changes to the US tax code. Concerning this, the most prominent of changes concern that of child tax credits. … Continue reading A Well-Deserved (Tax) Break: A Short Explanation and Argument for the 2021 Changes to the Child Tax Credit

By: Tiffany Ngo COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on the nation since 2020, and the nation is still slowly recovering. Landlords and tenants in Virginia were not immune to the effects of COVID-19. In Fall of 2020, the unemployment rate in Virginia was 5.8%[1] and as a result, many Virginians found themselves unable to afford their rent payments.   At first, they found themselves with no … Continue reading COVID-19 and the ongoing housing crisis

By: Abbey Lahnston Intellectual Disability is characterized by “significant limitations both in intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior, which covers many everyday social and practical skills. This disability originates before the age of 22.”[1] In 2002, the Supreme Court of the United States abolished the execution of the intellectually disabled in Atkins v. Virginia.[2] But in doing so, they gave great discretion to the states in … Continue reading The Supreme Court Ruled States Cannot Execute the Mentally Disabled- How are they Doing it, Anyway?

By:  Max Petrie Equal protection has failed to live up to its name in sentencing jurisprudence. When it comes to the guarantee of equality under the law in drug sentencing for crack and powder cocaine, mandatory minimum sentences combined with the disparity in punishment between the two forms of the drug have created a trap of technical language that does not treat anyone equally. Looking … Continue reading Unfair Sentencing

By: Haley Edmonds The Indigenous right of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent should be implemented in U.S. environmental decision-making substituting the current, lesser standard, of tribal consultation. By empowering Native Americans with actual leveraging power, and not merely a forum to air their grievances, Indigenous peoples can effectively serve as the last line of defense against environmentally-exploitative activities, such as pipelines. What is FPIC? Free, … Continue reading Free, Prior, and Informed Consent: A Potential Last Line of Environmental Defense

By: Abbey Lahnston In the summer of 2021, Virginia moved from its well-established institution of jury sentencing to judge sentencing.[1] Joe Morrisey, a Virginia State Senator claimed, “Jurors have no idea what a normal sentence is. That’s why it is important to have a judge sentencing who has the guidelines and can put it into context.”[2] But Joe Morrisey, and the Virginia Legislation in general, … Continue reading

By: Amanuel Mekonnen DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, is under attack again. On June 16, 2021, Judge Andrew S. Hanen of the United States District Court in Houston ordered the immediate vacatur of the memorandum that created the DACA program and remanded the program back to the Department for Homeland Security (DHS), subject to a temporary stay. [1] In a 77-page memorandum, … Continue reading