RICHMOND, Va. — As part of Democrat Virginia Governor Ralph Northams’s special session of the General Assembly to deal with “criminal justice reform,” the Virginia Saenate voted on Wednesday to eliminate many of the penalties for assaulting police officers. If the bill — which passed along straight party lines with a vote of 21 -15 — passes in the House of Delegates, Northam has said he will sign it into law.
That would mean that an assault against a law police officer, judge, magistrate, correctional officer, and many others in criminal justice would be a misdemeanor unless the assault results in “bodily injury.” The summary of the bill — SB 5032 – reads:
Assault and battery; penalty. Eliminates the mandatory minimum term of confinement for an assault and battery committed against a judge; magistrate; law-enforcement officer; correctional officer; person directly involved in the care, treatment, or supervision of inmates; firefighter; or volunteer firefighter or any emergency medical services personnel and provides that such crime can no longer be committed as a simple assault and must result in a bodily injury.
As the law currently stands, such assaults are considered felonies and carry a mandatory minimum six-month jail sentence. SB 5032 removes that mandatory sentence. Given the current state of escalating violence against police officers in Virginia and across the country, this partisan approval for removing the harsher penalty is rightly seen as a license to continue that violent trend.
If passed by the House of Delegates, the law would approach legalization of violence against police. With SB 5032 passing along straight party lines in the Senate, it does not look hopeful that it will fail in the House of Delegates. Democrats currently hold a 10-seat majority in the House.
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