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<\/p>\nBy: Elizabeth Vanesse <\/p>\n
Virginia\u2019s newly-inaugurated governor, Glenn Youngkin, targeted the shortcomings of the Virginia Parole Board during his campaign. Youngkin\u2019s campaign promised law and order, stricter sentencing, and fewer releases.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n Although Youngkin\u2019s campaign did target some structural issues within the Board itself, namely that it erred in not notifying a victim\u2019s family before releasing a man who had been granted parole, fact checkers have raised concerns over the misleading nature of some of Youngkin\u2019s campaign tactics[2]<\/a>. One of Youngkin\u2019s newest appointees, former Richmond police officer, Cheryl Nici, was featured prominently in a Youngkin advertisement back in 2021[3]<\/a>. In that advertisement, which ran on numerous local television stations, Ms. Nici describes that in 1984, a man who had allegedly killed three people and attempted to kill another police deputy, shot her in the head[4]<\/a>. Ms. Nici explains that \u201c[e]very few years [she] has to rip those wounds open again to plead with the members of Terry McAuliffe\u2019s parole board to keep the man who tried to kill me off the streets.[5]<\/a>\u201d Kenneth Wayne Woodfin, the man who shot Ms. Nici, was convicted in 1985 and sentenced to an extremely long prison sentence\u2014three life terms and an additional 116 years[6]<\/a>. He was first eligible for parole 29 years after his conviction and has been denied each time.[7]<\/a> In their denials, the Board cited they cannot release him because he may be a danger to the community.[8]<\/a> Despite the Board\u2019s unequivocal denial of parole and warnings of safety, Youngkin\u2019s ad strongly insinuates that Woodfin came dangerously close to being released on parole.<\/p>\n In reality, Virginia is considered one of the strictest states when it comes to granting parole.[9]<\/a> From January through October of 2019, for instance, the Parole Board only granted parole for 5% of cases.[10]<\/a> The Parole Board regularly posts all of its monthly parole decisions for the public to view, per Virginia Code \u00a7 53.1-136.[11]<\/a> As such, all of the facts and figures that would undermine Youngkin\u2019s campaign message of parole being freely handed out, threats of the \u201ccop killer\u2019s\u201d release, and the immense risk of victims being revictimized are readily available to disprove those claims. However, it is clear that not many members of the public actually know how to access such sites, nor are they aware of the actual statistics of parole in Virginia.<\/p>\n William W. Hood, III argues that Virginia\u2019s elections have only exacerbated these misunderstandings about parole: they have \u201cprovided a forum for equally petulant exchanges on parole. In recent elections, many Republicans running for state office have argued that the Democrat-managed\u00a0Virginia\u00a0Parole Board\u00a0routinely releases on parole violent prisoners who still represent a threat to\u00a0society. Unfortunately,\u00a0Virginia\u00a0Department of Corrections statistics that belie these widely disseminated opinions rarely are made available to the public.\u201d[12]<\/a> Although Wood\u2019s argument that the Department of Corrections does not release their statistics is no longer true due to the updated Virginia code, it is clear that the public is not aware of the stringency of Virginia\u2019s parole system and how rare release still is. The recent gubernatorial race is not the only reason everyday Virginians are unaware of the realities of parole, but this media misrepresentation of statistics surely contributed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Alex Thorson, What Youngkin\u2019s parole board promise signals to Virginia\u2019s criminal justice system<\/em>, ABC 8 News (Nov. 8, 2021), https:\/\/www.wric.com\/news\/virginia-news\/what-youngkins-parole-board-promise-signals-for-virginias-criminal-justice-system\/.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Glenn Kessler, Youngkin\u2019s campaign targets McAuliffe\u2019s parole record through dubious links<\/em>, The Washington Post (Sept. 22, 2021), https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2021\/09\/22\/youngkin-campaign-targets-mcauliffes-parole-record-through-dubious-links\/.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n [4]<\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n [5]<\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n [6]<\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n [7]<\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n [8]<\/a> Mark Bowes, In victory for his victims, local man who killed 3 and wounded 2 officers in 1984 rampage is denied parole<\/em>, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Jun. 18, 2021), https:\/\/richmond.com\/news\/local\/crime-and-courts\/in-victory-for-his-victims-local-man-who-killed-3-and-wounded-2-officers-in\/article_2192f801-5d85-5802-b998-7577acab2ce0.html.<\/p>\n [9]<\/a> Emma Gauthier & Anna Madigan, Virginia denies vast majority of parole requests, data shows<\/em>, WHSV 3 (Dec. 17, 2019), https:\/\/www.whsv.com\/content\/news\/Virginia-denies-vast-majority-of-parole-requests-data-shows-566283111.html.<\/p>\n [10]<\/a> Id.<\/em><\/p>\n [11]<\/a> Va. Code Ann. \u00a7 53.1-136.<\/p>\n [12]<\/a> William W. Hood, III, The Meaning of \u201cLife\u201d for Virginia Jurors and its Effect on Reliability of Capital Sentencing<\/em>, 75 Va. L. Rev. 1605, 1621-22 (1989).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By: Elizabeth Vanesse Virginia\u2019s newly-inaugurated governor, Glenn Youngkin, targeted the shortcomings of the Virginia Parole Board during his campaign. Youngkin\u2019s campaign promised law and order, stricter sentencing, and fewer releases.[1] Although Youngkin\u2019s campaign did target some structural issues within the Board itself, namely that it erred in not notifying a victim\u2019s family before releasing a man who had been granted parole, fact checkers have raised … Continue reading Virginia\u2019s Parole Board: How the Gubernatorial Race Shaped (or Misshaped) Public Understanding<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5233,"featured_media":1247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/files\/2022\/02\/Elizabeth-1.20.21.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5233"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1246"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1248,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1246\/revisions\/1248"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}