Jennifer Carroll Foy announces plan to strengthen civilian review boards

Democratic gubernatorial nomination candidate Jennifer Carroll Foy has announced a plan to expand civilian review boards.

The announcement was made in light of new data collected under Virginia’s Community Policing Act, which Carroll Foy supported in the legislature. According to reporting in The Virginia Mercury, the data shows that Black drivers in Virginia are almost two times more likely to be pulled over by the police, and three times more likely to have their cars searched.

“Unfortunately, this data released by the Community Policing Act is not surprising to so many of us in the Commonwealth,” Carroll Foy said. “Virginians lived firsthand the hurt and harm inflicted by inequities in our criminal justice system for generations. Now the question is, what are we going to do to ensure that our justice system is truly just, fair, and equitable? How will we make sure unfair stops don’t happen in the first place, and how will we hold bad actors accountable when stops go horribly wrong?”

As a magistrate judge, public defender, and legislator, Carroll Foy has spent years fighting for a fairer and more equitable criminal justice system. Carroll Foy introduced legislation to ban the use of chokeholds by law enforcement, co-sponsored legislation requiring law-enforcement officers to undergo training on de-escalation techniques, the lawful use of force, and implicit bias, and more.

Last month, Carroll Foy released her plan to fight for comprehensive criminal justice reform in Virginia, which addresses police brutality and broader criminal justice reforms.

“As a public defender, I’ve seen up close the broken justice system we have in Virginia — one that works for the wealthy and well-connected, and the other that works against Black people and other marginalized communities,” Carroll Foy said. “We must hold bad actors accountable and reform our entire criminal justice system. As delegate, I was proud to champion legislation to end the use of chokeholds, and to push to ensure law-enforcement officers are trained on issues such as implicit bias. And as governor, I will fight to ensure that we tackle these racial disparities by strengthening civilian review boards. Additionally, I’ll end qualified immunity, focusing on community policing efforts, and more so that Virginia is an equitable place for every family.”