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Have you tried Roll On – 200mg from JUSTCBD?

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Dear Chairperson Adams and Subcommittee Members: Thank you for hearing testimony on House Bill 413 relating to the plight of child sex trafficking victims within the state. Shared Hope International has been working in Virginia, across the country, and throughout the globe for over 20 years to guide and support appropriate responses to protect survivors, hold offenders to account, and ultimately prevent the crime entirely. 12 years ago we launched the State Report Card project to assess the status of state’s laws and drive legislative progress. Since 2011, we have called on states to recognize any minor engaged in commercial sex as a victim of a sex trafficking, not a “prostitute” or “delinquent youth.” We know that survivors of child sex trafficking have the best outcomes when they are met with protection, trauma-informed services, and a response that is appropriate for the horrific experiences they have endured—such a response cannot be rooted in juvenile justice practices and systems. Despite Virginia’s commitment to increasing effective responses to child, youth, and adult sex trafficking, including passing several particularly impactful pieces of legislation during the last few sessions, the state is lagging behind a majority of the country in providing one of the most foundational protections for child and youth survivors. 27 states and D.C. have made clear that children engaged in commercial sex are victims of sex trafficking, no prostitution offenders. While Virginia state law clearly defines children who are bought and sold for sex as victims of sex trafficking, those same minors can be and are arrested and prosecuted for prostitution. HB 413 is not only critical for remedying this legal paradox, the legislation embraces a nationally-regarded promising practice for protecting children and preventing harm. In addition to the non-criminalization protections created under Va. Code Ann. §§ 18.2-346 and 18.2-347, HB 413 provides two key provisions that will allow Virginia to respond both appropriately and effectively to children with lived experience: 1) Provides a bridge to services and a human trafficking assessment provided under § 63.2-1506.1 (created by HB 2597 in 2019); and 2) Clarifies that DSS has the authority, pursuant to § 63.2-1517, to take a minor into temporary protective custody, ensuring that the critical non-criminalization protections created by this bill do not compromise the safety of the child. We are grateful for the Committee’s dedication to this issue and respectfully ask for your support. Sincerely, Sarah Bendtsen Diedhiou, J.D. Director of State Legislative Advocacy sarah@sharedhope.org

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Hello and Good Afternoon, My name is Olivia Reposa and I am here to support the passing of HB579. I have been a resident of the Hampton Roads area for over 10 years. I’ve spent years incarcerated and even gave birth to my daughter in jail. I'm still on probation and to this day, I cannot get a driver’s license. My crime? I was a victim of human trafficking. I was sexually and physically abused as a child, and began “prostituting” at 17 for food and shelter and was quickly recruited by traffickers. I was arrested on multiple occasions. Each time I left jail I swore I would never go back but, due to my criminal record, I could only get minimum wage jobs that rarely provided more than 20 hours a week and a monthly income that was nowhere near enough to afford fair market rent. I couldn’t afford to leave the life and there was always another pimp to help me stay. On November 2, 2016, federal law enforcement conducted a human trafficking sting at a Norfolk hotel room where I was being trafficked. During my rescue, law enforcement found narcotics inside the hotel room. As a result, I was charged with felony level crimes to include procession of heroin and misdemeanors to include residing in a bawdy place and solicitation. I served 14 months in jail where my first and only child was born. During and after my imprisonment, I worked diligently with federal and local law enforcement on a very complex human trafficking case. My pimp had forced me and 33 other VA-based girls and women to perform unthinkable acts. Just as he forced us to meet a 10 john nightly quota, he forced us to commit an array of crimes - many felony level crimes - on his behalf. On 11 March 2019, I exited jail to no one with nothing besides new charges on my record. I knew it’d be hard to get a job or housing. I knew how easy it would be to go back to prostituting, how quickly pimps would find me. Luckily, a Survivor Ventures staff member active in the jail heard I had been released, located me and offered services. I was accepted into the Survivors to Entrepreneurs program on 20 March 2019. Through the program I accessed crisis shelter, gainful employment and the ability to sign a lease with rental assistance. Since April 2019 I have been paying my rent, bills and taxes. Something I was never able to do before. I found my voice and became an advocate for other victims, trying to help others out of the life and into the light. Today I am the Survivors to Entrepreneurs Program Director for Virginia because unlike most employers, my history and criminal record are a bonus and not a hindrance to employment. The passing of this bill will allow many more victims/survivors to have a second chance at life without barriers. So that they too can be a contributing member of society. Thank you for hearing my testimony today.

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Hello and Good Afternoon, My name is Olivia Reposa and I am here to support the passing of HB579. I have been a resident of the Hampton Roads area for over 10 years. I’ve spent years incarcerated and even gave birth to my daughter in jail. I'm still on probation and to this day, I cannot get a driver’s license. My crime? I was a victim of human trafficking. I was sexually and physically abused as a child, and began “prostituting” at 17 for food and shelter and was quickly recruited by traffickers. I was arrested on multiple occasions. Each time I left jail I swore I would never go back but, due to my criminal record, I could only get minimum wage jobs that rarely provided more than 20 hours a week and a monthly income that was nowhere near enough to afford fair market rent. I couldn’t afford to leave the life and there was always another pimp to help me stay. On November 2, 2016, federal law enforcement conducted a human trafficking sting at a Norfolk hotel room where I was being trafficked. During my rescue, law enforcement found narcotics inside the hotel room. As a result, I was charged with felony level crimes to include procession of heroin and misdemeanors to include residing in a bawdy place and solicitation. I served 14 months in jail where my first and only child was born. During and after my imprisonment, I worked diligently with federal and local law enforcement on a very complex human trafficking case. My pimp had forced me and 33 other VA-based girls and women to perform unthinkable acts. Just as he forced us to meet a 10 john nightly quota, he forced us to commit an array of crimes - many felony level crimes - on his behalf. On 11 March 2019, I exited jail to no one with nothing besides new charges on my record. I knew it’d be hard to get a job or housing. I knew how easy it would be to go back to prostituting, how quickly pimps would find me. Luckily, a Survivor Ventures staff member active in the jail heard I had been released, located me and offered services. I was accepted into the Survivors to Entrepreneurs program on 20 March 2019. Through the program I accessed crisis shelter, gainful employment and the ability to sign a lease with rental assistance. Since April 2019 I have been paying my rent, bills and taxes. Something I was never able to do before. I found my voice and became an advocate for other victims, trying to help others out of the life and into the light. Today I am the Survivors to Entrepreneurs Program Director for Virginia because unlike most employers, my history and criminal record are a bonus and not a hindrance to employment. The passing of this bill will allow many more victims/survivors to have a second chance at life without barriers. So that they too can be a contributing member of society. Thank you for hearing my testimony today.

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I do not support any bills that criminalize folks

Dear Chairman and Members of the House Courts of Justice Committee, My name is Emily Mooney, and I am a policy manager at REFORM Alliance, a national nonprofit seeking to improve probation and parole policies and support public safety by creating pathways to redemption, work, and wellbeing. As part of this mission, REFORM worked with the Virginia legislature and allies such as the American Conservative Union, the Faith and Freedom Coalition, and JusticeForwardVA to pass HB 2038 last year. This bill promised to support public safety, fiscal prudence, and a strong workforce by bringing Virginia’s probation policies into alignment with research that overwhelmingly suggests long probation terms and the use of prison time for technical probation violations, such as missing a meeting with one’s probation officer undermine rehabilitation and efforts to ensure people on probation become productive, taxpaying members of society. HB 758 seeks to roll back these reforms and promote lengthy probation terms by setting a new 2-year probation cap for Class 1 and 2 misdemeanors. This new cap means a defendant could spend up to 2x or 4x longer on probation than they could spend behind bars for these offenses and at least twice as long as they would under current law. Research suggests that most serious violations occur early within a defendant’s probation term (generally within the first year) and that lengthy supervision terms at best have no impact on recidivism rates. Indeed, a length of stay study of South Carolina’s and Oregon’s probation systems commissioned by PEW Charitable Trusts proves that states can safely and substantively reduce supervision terms with no negative impact on safety. We also know that excessively long probation terms contribute to high caseloads and overflowing court dockets, both of which make it difficult to focus the necessary time and resources on high-risk offenders. Placing reasonable limits on probation terms is a tried and true method for prioritizing caseloads on high-risk offenders, saving millions of dollars, and decreasing recidivism and community instability. HB 758 undermines all of these goals. In addition to setting higher misdemeanor caps, HB 758 seeks to eliminate the graduated sanctions implemented under last years’ probation reforms which sought to limit needless, costly incarceration and workforce disruptions for technical violations like failing to notify a probation officer of a change of employment. Without these parameters, missed meetings with probation officers or other very minor failures to follow complicated rules will subject huge numbers of people to incarceration, damaging their ability to continue mending their lives, supporting their families, and pursuing life goals. This bill would drag many people back into the legal system, ensuring probation becomes a pipeline to prison rather than a launchpad for success. Finally, the new definition of technical violation (vii) under HB 760 is also problematic. By exempting drug use or possession of a Schedule I or Schedule II controlled substance from the definition of a technical violation, HB 760 opens up another way to put addicts in jail for long time periods, which we know begets numerous negative consequences and doesn't help with rehabilitation in most cases. For these reasons, I urge you to vote against HB 758 and HB 760 and oppose any rollbacks. Sincerely, Emily Mooney Policy Manager REFORM Alliance

Dear Chairman and Members of the House Courts of Justice Committee, My name is Emily Mooney, and I am a policy manager at REFORM Alliance, a national nonprofit seeking to improve probation and parole policies and support public safety by creating pathways to redemption, work, and wellbeing. As part of this mission, REFORM worked with the Virginia legislature and allies such as the American Conservative Union, the Faith and Freedom Coalition, and JusticeForwardVA to pass HB 2038 last year. This bill promised to support public safety, fiscal prudence, and a strong workforce by bringing Virginia’s probation policies into alignment with research that overwhelmingly suggests long probation terms and the use of prison time for technical probation violations, such as missing a meeting with one’s probation officer undermine rehabilitation and efforts to ensure people on probation become productive, taxpaying members of society. HB 758 seeks to roll back these reforms and promote lengthy probation terms by setting a new 2-year probation cap for Class 1 and 2 misdemeanors. This new cap means a defendant could spend up to 2x or 4x longer on probation than they could spend behind bars for these offenses and at least twice as long as they would under current law. Research suggests that most serious violations occur early within a defendant’s probation term (generally within the first year) and that lengthy supervision terms at best have no impact on recidivism rates. Indeed, a length of stay study of South Carolina’s and Oregon’s probation systems commissioned by PEW Charitable Trusts proves that states can safely and substantively reduce supervision terms with no negative impact on safety. We also know that excessively long probation terms contribute to high caseloads and overflowing court dockets, both of which make it difficult to focus the necessary time and resources on high-risk offenders. Placing reasonable limits on probation terms is a tried and true method for prioritizing caseloads on high-risk offenders, saving millions of dollars, and decreasing recidivism and community instability. HB 758 undermines all of these goals. In addition to setting higher misdemeanor caps, HB 758 seeks to eliminate the graduated sanctions implemented under last years’ probation reforms which sought to limit needless, costly incarceration and workforce disruptions for technical violations like failing to notify a probation officer of a change of employment. Without these parameters, missed meetings with probation officers or other very minor failures to follow complicated rules will subject huge numbers of people to incarceration, damaging their ability to continue mending their lives, supporting their families, and pursuing life goals. This bill would drag many people back into the legal system, ensuring probation becomes a pipeline to prison rather than a launchpad for success. Finally, the new definition of technical violation (vii) under HB 760 is also problematic. By exempting drug use or possession of a Schedule I or Schedule II controlled substance from the definition of a technical violation, HB 760 opens up another way to put addicts in jail for long time periods, which we know begets numerous negative consequences and doesn't help with rehabilitation in most cases. For these reasons, I urge you to vote against HB 758 and HB 760 and oppose any rollbacks. Sincerely, Emily Mooney Policy Manager REFORM Alliance

I would appreciate if you take in consideration my thoughts on these bulls especially 1080. This would harm innocent children and families their are 13,000 children on sex offender registries in Virginia...What do you plan to do with them their parents can go in a shelter but a child is excluded. Also a single parent who has a requirement to register stays outside and children are took inside unattended. Please consider this bill as not a wise choice

Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) of Northern Virginia is a survivor-led organization and calls for minimum levels of training for adults working with children in sports settings. As child advocates, our sole responsibility is to put children at the center of everything we do, we not only support but need passage of this bill HB 1043 as a non-partisan action to prioritize the safety of children in the Commonwealth. This is an opportunity to back up our values and beliefs with action. As a community, we say that child safety is paramount. Leading research tells us children who experience harm in organizations have more adverse impacts in adulthood. The debt to child sexual abuse alone is over $800,000 per child. We know all adults are responsible for keeping children safe. Let’s back up those beliefs with actions and pass HB 1043. 90% of child sexual abuse is perpetrated by someone known and close to the child. Right now, child protection professionals consider competitive sports leagues a high-risk activity for emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. Athletics should improve every aspect of a child’s healthy development. It should not cause lifelong impacts on their health and wellbeing. Those who work with children should expect that privilege to come with obligations. An obligation to keep children safe, to maintain professional boundaries, and to behave in ways that don’t make children more susceptible to abuse. Obligations to know, identify and report signs of abuse within the program or organization. Obligations to know what to do if a child sees them as a trusted adult and discloses harm by another child or an adult.

I oppose multiple bills that have made it to the house the one bill regarding Emergency Sex Offenders is the most absurd bill I have ever heard in my life. No one is going to be worried about sexual offending in a State of Emergency number one. For example Dad is on a registry and he has three children who are accepted inside without supervision while dad is kept outside in the storm or natural catastrophe. When you pass bills like this your punishing innocent children and families. What about people who committed murder or child abusers are they treated the same? You Senators and delegates got this wrong and this is harmful to innocent families and children. Now let's talk about the 13,000 children on Sex Offender Registries in Virginia some as young as 7 years of age so Mom , Dad and entire family is allowed in but the child is made to stand outside during a castophre alone and sacred while his or her family are allowed inside these laws are based off fear and gives a false sense of security to the general public. Sex Offense is to broad, urination in public is a registable offense as a Violent Sex Offender, Reprorting a Sex Crime will land you on a Violent Sex Offender Registry such is my sistuation. Please reconsider the harm the harm of this bill

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Written testimony on HB 1115 ahead of February 2, 2022 hearing.

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I do not support any bills that criminalize folks

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Written testimony on HB 1150 ahead of February 2, 2022 subcommittee hearing.

The court already disallows mistake of age defenses. While I typically recommend codifying important aspects of the criminal justice system such as this it would greatly disrupt our criminal justice system. There are several places in our code where this is implicated such as the provision of alcohol to a minor. Unless we changed all of those subsections there is a possibility that a judge may assume that mistake of age defenses are allowed in such cases. It is my recommendation that this bill be passed by indefinitely.

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This bill is inconsistent with the spirit and intent of similar statutes, namely 18.2-374.3, Use of communications systems to facilitate certain offenses involving children. Statutes should be updated to use similar wording prohibiting solicitation of a person or child “WHOM he knows or has reason to believe is <underage> …” The omission of the word “WHOM” in 18.2-374.3 has led to misinterpretation of the law, allowing prosecution for soliciting an imaginary child and for soliciting adults who assume another child’s identity and impersonate them. The intent of the law is to protect real children, not impersonators, imaginary children, or blow-up dolls.

I do not support any bills that criminalize folks

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