Mark Herring on Crime

Reform cash bail; more diversity in judiciary

Cash bail reform: The cash bail system can lead to bizarre outcomes where dangerous people with money can go free while nonviolent people sit in jail for days, weeks or months because they can't afford to pay bail. This can cause a person to lose their job, housing and support systems. Virginia should move away from the use of cash bail as its default for low level offenses and instead expand pretrial services that have proven to be effective and cheaper.

Building a more inclusive, diverse judiciary: Unfortunately, Virginia's diversity is not reflected in its judiciary. While Virginia's population is about 20% African American, 10% Hispanic/Latino and 7% Asian, only an extremely small percentage of Circuit and District Court judges are minorities. As Democrats take the lead on judicial selection, consideration must be given to inclusion, diversity, and representation.

More resources for public safety and law enforcement

Attorney General Herring is leading a transformation in the way Virginia works to prevent and respond to sexual and domestic violence. He is leading a $3.4 million project to completely eliminate Virginia's backlog of more than 2,000 untested rape kits. He chaired Gov. Terry McAuliffe's Task Force on Combating Campus Sexual Violence, which helped make Virginia a national leader on the issue. He has helped implement Lethality Assessment Protocol, an innovative tool to prevent domestic violence and homicide, in dozens of communities around the Commonwealth.