Professor Allison Weiss, Prison Parole Project, Featured in Mother Jones The article examines the history of parole in Virginia since it was abolished in 1995.

By Law Communications
August 23, 2024

Washington and Lee law professor Allison Weiss was quoted in a recent issue of Mother Jones magazine for an extensive feature examining the parole process in Virginia.

Professor Weiss is a legal writing instructor and also teaches a practicum class focused on parole advocacy. Prior to entering academia, Professor Weiss worked on the federal habeas docket for the Federal District Court for the Western District of Virginia. Before that, she worked for the Federal Defenders for the Western District of North Carolina in the appellate division.

The Mother Jones article examines the history of parole in Virginia since it was abolished in 1995, limiting early release only to those sentenced prior to the law’s passage and to a very limited number of others. The parole grant rate fell from around 46 percent in 1995 to only 2 percent today.

“The expectation pre-1995 was that you had a very good chance of receiving parole once you were eligible to be reviewed,” Weiss told Mother Jones. “Over time, there’s just been a narrowing of the view of what parole is or should be in the state.”

The article also cites a 2021 report critical of the parole process produced by several professors associated with the Virginia Capital Case Clearinghouse, a W&L Law clinic focused on capital defense that ceased operation several years ago. With capital defense work on the decline leading up to Virginia abolishing the death penalty in 2021, the clinic had pivoted its focus towards the prison parole issue. Professor Weiss took on that work in her practicum class, launched in 2022.

The full Mother Jones article is available online.

If you know any W&L faculty who would be great profile subjects, tell us about them! Nominate them for a web profile.