1/16 The Attorney General for Virginia came to Arlington today to announce a new right-wing PAC designed to stop criminal justice reform. I hope he had a good visit and I wish him a safe journey home. But let's be clear this was political theater and not public safety.
2/16 Through the campaign & since his election, the AG targeted, often by name, Commonwealth’s Attorneys in NOVA, whose counties actually are the safest & have the lowest crime rates of any large jurisdictions in Virginia and country. This is particularly true of my jurisdiction.
3/16 In 2021, Arlington County and the City of Falls Church recorded zero homicides under our jurisdiction. In fact, from mid-September 2020 until mid-February 2022, 16 months, Arlington and the City of Falls Church did not have a single homicide. Zero. Not a typo. Zero.
4/x One killing occurred in 2021 on Pentagon property (under the jurisdiction of the federal government) when a Georgia resident traveled to Virginia and killed a Pentagon police officer after being released on bond by a DA in Cobb County who does not claim to be a reformer
5/x I’ve long resisted the claim that the drop in homicide is due solely to my policies. Instead, I’ve credited the work of our county board, local delegation, police department, school board, defense bar, public defender, & community & faith groups in teaming up to prevent crime
6/16 And yet, the AG and other anti-reformers have no hesitation in cherry picking any individual incident or any uptick in any crime, however slight, to mislead the public and paint a false picture of our reform achievements. Here are some hard facts:
7/16 At the end of my first year in office, Arlington was voted the safest city in America. arlnow.com/2020/12/17/arl….
8/16 This year we rank in the top 5 nationwide for best place to raise a family, best place to live, and best place for young professionals -- and number 1 in the Commonwealth for those things. patch.com/virginia/arlin…
9/16 We are not an office that measures itself solely by how many convictions we get, but we hold people accountable: guilty verdicts & pleas in multiple child sex abuse cases; guilty pleas in 3 homicide cases, with 2 dating back from 2018 (a full 2 years before I took office);
10/16 A guilty verdict in another homicide case; guilty plea in a 30-year old serial rape case; a guilty verdict in a 2018 serial rape case, and indictments in a 23-year-old cold case homicide.
11/18 We did all this while at the same time: we did not certify a single child as an adult; we helped establish a behavioral health docket that allows individuals experiencing mental health crises to obtain treatment without incurring a criminal record;
12/17 We guard against racial disparities in charging & sentencing recommendations; we don’t stack charges to coerce guilty pleas; we don't ask for cash bail; we don’t use civil asset forfeiture to take private property because someone is accused but not convicted of a crime;
13/17 The jail population is at its consistently lowest level in Arlington history; we give defendants and their counsel fair and open discovery (by contrast, the prior administration used to require them to come to her office, sit in a room and take notes);
14/17 We formed and staffed the only working conviction review unit in the entire Commonwealth of Virginia -- we did that well before the AG took office and fired the entire conviction integrity staff;
15/17 We've conducted listening sessions to respond better to victims' needs; we received the maximum grant from the DOJ to support RJ and diversion. And, after a two-year planning phase, we have the best restorative justice program for young people in the Commonwealth.
16/17 We in Arlington and the City of Falls Church conduct public affairs with civility; we don’t govern by soundbites; we speak of serious issues seriously; and we endeavor to treat each other with respect.
17/17 In that spirit, I hope the AG took time to enjoy our great restaurants & beautiful walking trails, & I extend him a personal invitation to discuss how in just 2 years our team has become a model for how to run a criminal justice system that provides safety & justice for all
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