Police and Criminal Justice Reform has been at the center of public discourse since last summer - but what does it really mean on a practical level? Join us to hear from those engaged in that question every day. Andy Elders of Justice Forward Virginia and David Smith of the Virginia Coalition on Solitary Confinement will share the impact good legislation has on the search for justice and their priorities for this session of the Virginia General Assembly.
Date & Time
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Location
Online. A zoom link will be emailed to you upon registration.
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Speakers
Andy Elders Deputy Public Defender, Fairfax County and Policy Director, Justice Forward Virginia
Andy Elders is the Deputy Public Defender for Fairfax County and a Policy Director for Justice Forward Virginia. He graduated with honors from Duke University in 1999 and Georgetown University Law Center in 2002. He has been a criminal defense attorney in Fairfax County since 2005, when he joined the Office of the Public Defender. In 2008, Mr. Elders left the office for private practice, where he represented court-appointed and retained clients charged with the full spectrum of criminal offenses. He returned to the office in 2016, where he regularly handles life offense cases, including the most serious offenses charged in our criminal justice system. He has tried dozens of criminal cases to jury verdicts and has represented thousands of clients.
Mr. Elders was the Chair of the Criminal Practice Section of the Fairfax Bar Association from 2015-2018. He speaks regularly at continuing legal education seminars and trainings covering topics including Representing Clients with Serious Mental Illness, Ethics, Immigration Consequences of Criminal Convictions, Effective Advocacy in Sentencing Hearings, and on various topics relating to Forensic Science. He is on the faculty of the Indigent Defense Commission’s Advanced Trial Advocacy College and he organizes attorney trainings for the Fairfax Office. He testifies regularly at committee and subcommittee hearings of the Virginia General Assembly about criminal justice reform issues.
David Smith Chair, Virginia Coalition on Solitary Confinement
David is an alumnus of Mary Washington College with a B.A. in Religion and Concordia Seminary-St. Louis where he earned a Master of Divinity. He served in pastoral ministry for 6 years. In 2013 he was arrested and subsequently spent over 16 and a half months in solitary confinement in Norfolk, Va. He is currently employed in the insurance industry in Richmond. In his advocacy work he serves as the chair of the Virginia Coalition on Solitary Confinement, a member of the Steering Committee for Virginia Prison Justice Network-Richmond, and on the boards of Interfaith Action for Human Rights, OAR (the primary reentry services provider in Central Virginia) and Bethlehem Lutheran Church-Richmond, VA.