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     The Office of the Commonwealth's Attorney for the City of Richmond is led by Colette Wallace McEachin (colette.mceachin@rva.gov). Colette is the first woman and the first African-American woman ever elected Richmond Commonwealth's Attorney. When Colette was elected Commonwealth's Attorney in November, 2019, she brought with her over 20 years of prosecutorial experience and knowledge. 

     During her time with the Commonwealth's Attorney's office, Colette has worked to make Richmond a safe, just and equitable city for all, including victims, witnesses and offenders. Colette's efforts to enhance public safety and reduce recidivism include multiple innovative and progressive criminal justice reforms, including the enhanced use of restorative justice principles. Her office offers many alternatives to incarceration for most non-violent offenders, including the programs detailed below.  

Innovative, Progressive and Restorative Criminal Justice Reforms and Alternatives to Incarceration

• Community Justice Reform Unit (CJR) – CJR will (1) implement and expand Restorative Justice practices in both the juvenile and adult courts; (2) increase opportunities to divert those whose criminal behavior is rooted in mental illness and/or a substance use disorder away from incarceration and into treatment; (3) promote trauma-informed practices for cases involving emotional or physical violence; and (4) utilize data-driven prosecution; and (5) engage the community in the criminal justice process and seek input from community members to achieve public safety. 

• Restorative Justice and Community Conferencing - Restorative justice is an effort by the Commonwealth to shift the focus from prosecution and punishment by the courts to rehabilitation and restoration within the community. Victims have the option to participate in a face-to-face meeting (called a conference), led by a trained and neutral facilitator, with the person who has harmed them. This conference gives the victim the opportunity to (1) express how the victim has been harmed, (2) be directly involved in creating a personalized plan to repair the harm caused by the offender, and (3) being healing from the harm. The Commonwealth's Attorney's Office also supports a group of trained community members ("Richmond Restorative Justice") who provide dialogue circle services to help resolve disputes and promote healing after traumatic events. 

• Opposition to cash bonds for most non-violent offenses - Instead of requesting cash bonds, the Commonwealth will request evidence-based pretrial conditions to avoid pretrial incarceration for persons charged with most non-violent offenses.

• Juvenile Justice - This office has worked toward dismantling “the school to prison pipeline” by partnering with various city agencies and the Richmond Police Department to reduce and divert the number of criminal cases stemming from behavior issues in school. This office has also revised the transfer and certification policies to prevent the vast majority of juveniles from being treated as adults in Circuit Court so that they can remain under the rehabilitative jurisdiction of the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.

• Expansive General Continuance/Deferred Disposition Policy - The Commonwealth frequently agrees to dismiss or reduce criminal charges in exchange for the completion of an agreed amount of community service to be completed by the defendant or an agreed amount of restitution to be paid by the defendant to the victim. 

• Behavioral Health Docket/Adult Recovery Court - These specialized dockets are handled by prosecutors trained in these areas and provide resources to help avoid or minimize incarceration and recidivism in all Richmond criminal courts.

• First Felony Avoidance - The decision to prosecute a case which could result in a defendant's first felony conviction can only be made by Colette or one of her Deputy Commonwealth's Attorneys. 

• Expungements – This office supports the expungement of eligible charges.  This office provides information regarding the expungement process to individuals in General District Court and allows individuals to personally serve their petitions for expungement in lieu of having to pay a process server to do so.

• Continuing Legal Education for prosecutors on evidence-based best practices for fair and just prosecution, such as procedural justice and recognition of implicit bias.