Virginia Senate Democrats have published a list of 28 proposals for reforming the Commonwealth's police and criminal justice systems, including a measure to downgrade the charge of assault on a law enforcement officer to a misdemeanor offense instead of a felony.
Under current law, anyone who is convicted of assaulting a law enforcement officer is guilty of a Class 6 felony and is subject to a mandatory minimum term of confinement of six months, according to Virginia code.
The proposal is listed as "Defelonize assault on law enforcement officer." It is just one of many proposals by the Senate Democratic Caucus that could be considered at a special session on criminal justice reform legislation planned for August 2020 in Richmond.
In 2019, one law enforcement officer was feloniously killed in the line of duty and another 1,939 were assaulted, according to data released in May by the Virginia State Police.
The list of measures was drafted in the wake of mass protests against the killing of black people by law enforcement officers, specifically George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
"The deaths of Floyd, [Ahmaud] Arbery and Taylor have awoken Americans and Virginians to long-standing problems in policing in America," the Virginia Senate Democrats stated in a press release.
The Senate Democrats' measures would need to be considered and passed by the Democratic Party-controlled House of Delegates and signed by the Democrat Governor Ralph Northam to become law.
Under current law, anyone who is convicted of assaulting a law enforcement officer is guilty of a Class 6 felony and is subject to a mandatory minimum term of confinement of six months, according to Virginia code.
The proposal is listed as "Defelonize assault on law enforcement officer." It is just one of many proposals by the Senate Democratic Caucus that could be considered at a special session on criminal justice reform legislation planned for August 2020 in Richmond.
In 2019, one law enforcement officer was feloniously killed in the line of duty and another 1,939 were assaulted, according to data released in May by the Virginia State Police.
The list of measures was drafted in the wake of mass protests against the killing of black people by law enforcement officers, specifically George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
"The deaths of Floyd, [Ahmaud] Arbery and Taylor have awoken Americans and Virginians to long-standing problems in policing in America," the Virginia Senate Democrats stated in a press release.
The Senate Democrats' measures would need to be considered and passed by the Democratic Party-controlled House of Delegates and signed by the Democrat Governor Ralph Northam to become law.
No comments:
Post a Comment