A Call for Justice: Virginia\u27s Need for Criminal Discovery Reform

In order for the promise of a strong and reliable criminal justice system to work properly in Virginia, there must be strong and prepared advocates on both sides of the process. The current process of discovery for criminal cases in Virginia fosters a culture of secrecy and unpreparedness that should not be tolerated in a system that has such power over the lives of every person in this state. It is far past the time for Virginia to move forward on criminal discovery reform. The current rules for criminal discovery in Virginia were first adopted in 1972. The rules do not require pretrial disclosure of witness statements, a list of witnesses, or police investigative reports. Over the past forty-four years, we have learned a great deal about the way our justice system falls short. DNA exonerations and wrongful convictions have demonstrated that mistakes happen more often than anyone would like to believe. The criminal justice system is not infallible but instead just as human as its creators. Our society has learned that there must be an appropriate counterweight to governmental power

Disrupting Death: How Specialized Capital Defenders Ground Virginia’s Machinery of Death to a Halt

Virginia’s repeal of capital punishment in 2021 is arguably the most momentous abolitionist event since 1972, when the United States Supreme Court invalidated capital punishment statutes nationwide. In part, Virginia’s repeal is momentous because it marks the first time a Southern state abolished the death penalty. In part, it is momentous because even among Southern states, Virginia was exceptional in its zeal for capital punishment. No state executed faster once a death sentence was handed down. And no state was more successful in defending death sentences, allowing Virginia to convert death sentences into executions at a higher rate than any other state in the Union. Sure, Texas holds the record for the most executions in the modern era of capital punishment. But Virginia was next in line with the second most executions in the modern era, and it holds the record for the most executions in the history of the United States, period.6 Granted, Virginia had been executing people for over 400 years, so it had a head start. But that just makes its repeal of the death penalty all the more remarkable. How did Virginia go from all-in on the death penalty to abolition

National Security in the Information Age: Are We Heading Toward Big Brother?

Symposium Welcome: Alexander McDaniel, Symposium Editor, University of Richmond Law Review, and Wendy C. Perdue, Dean of the University of Richmond School of Law. (9:00 a.m. - 9:15 a.m.) “How Does the Government Collect Data Through Surveillance?” Panel Discussion: William C. Banks, Distinguished Professor of Law at Syracuse University College of Law and Founding Director of the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism, and Jake Laperruque, Privacy Fellow with The Constitution Project. Professor Paul D. Crane, Associate Professor at the University of Richmond School of Law, served as moderator. (9:15 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.) “How Does the Government Retain and Destroy Data?” lecture: Douglas Cox, Associate Professor at CUNY School of Law. (10:45 a.m. - 11:45 a.m.) “How Does Data Impact the Courtroom?” Panel: Lt. Colonel Jeffrey Addicott (U.S. Army, ret.), Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Terrorism Law at St. Mary’s University School of Law, and Paul Gill, Assistant Federal Public Defender for the Federal Public Defender, Eastern District of Virginia. Douglas A. Ramseur, Capital Defender with the Office of the Capital Defender in Central Virginia, served as moderator. (1:00 p.m.- 2:15 p.m.) Keynote Address: Thomas J. Ridge, former Pennsylvania Governor and the first U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security. (2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.