Keeping Henrico Safe and Helping Victims: Shannon works to ensure all violent and dangerous criminals are off the streets while prioritizing the needs of victims and their families. Shannon believes community trust and compassion is essential and actively seeks out citizen input and concerns in every corner of Henrico. While not tolerating any police misconduct or overreach, she works with the Henrico police department and other law enforcement agencies to convict those who endanger our neighborhoods.
Prosecuting Hate Crimes: Shannon is diligent about prosecuting hate crimes as demonstrated by her conviction of a Klansman who tried to hurt people at a peaceful civil rights march. She also ensured that the students who painted antisemitic and other hateful graffiti received relevant and necessary community service to help them learn the evils of bigotry.
Stopping Domestic Violence: Shannon has prioritized stopping child and domestic abusers by expanding law enforcement’s ability to go after abusers to ensure domestic partners and children are safe. Shannon supports strong red flag laws so that those with domestic violence restraining orders must not have access to guns. She supports strengthening stalking laws.
Protecting the Vulnerable: Shannon has initiated anti-bullying programs in schools as well as those dealing with potential dangers kids are exposed to with their social media activity. Our parents and grandparents should not be victims of those who take advantage of their more advanced age. Shannon works closely with advocacy groups and professional experts to ensure seniors are educated on the many scams that threaten their life savings.
Addressing Addictions: Shannon strongly believes that while offenders must be held accountable for crimes they commit, that jails are not the best place to treat those with substance abuse disorders. She works closely with the addiction recovery community to ensure addiction is treated as a disease and offenders get the help that they need.
Recognizing Mental Healthcare: Shannon works to get those with mental health issues the care they need to become productive residents. She is working to expand the use of the court’s Mental Health docket and is proud of her work with other members of the Henrico community that established the Henrico Mental Health Clinic East which opened in 2019.
Working toward Rehabilitation and Smarter Justice: Shannon strongly believes that, whenever possible, rehabilitation for offenders must be a primary goal in the Henrico justice system. She believes putting juveniles on paths to a better life instead of paths to prisons by focusing on rehabilitation instead of just incarceration is critical. She supports “ban the box” and other efforts such as record expungement and driver’s license reinstatement that will allow citizens to lead constructive lives after they have served their sentences. Shannon also believes diversion programs – not jails — are often a better way to deal with non-violent offenders and has sought such sentencing options whenever their use is reasonable.
The Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office: Shannon is proud of having worked to create a diverse office, with women, Black, and LGBTQ+ attorneys reflecting the diversity of the county of Henrico. She is proud of bringing diverse experiences and perspectives to this office in varying leadership and attorney roles. The office also has Spanish-speaking individuals so more people can feel heard and understood.