Liz McCormick Published

Del. Jill Upson Seeks to Address Criminal Justice System in W.Va.

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Delegate Jill Upson was chosen to take part in a three-day Legislative Roundtable in Washington, DC, to discuss issues affecting minority communities as a whole.

The three-day legislative roundtable began on Wednesday. Delegate Jill Upson, a Republican from Jefferson County, says the experience has been jam-packed with information, speakers, and other legislators from around the country sharing ideas on how to make their state better.

The roundtable event consisted of 30 leading state and city legislative officials of color who looked to discuss energy workforce, tech entrepreneurship and high speed internet access, policing and sentencing, and challenges of the unbanked.

Upson says one of the things she wants to address after returning home to West Virginia is the criminal justice system and its effect on the workforce.

“It’s an initiative called Ban the Box,” Upson explained, “and what that does is it simply takes the question of, have you ever been convicted of a felon off of the application, so that it gives the applicant an opportunity to get their foot in the door, and then they could explain, well, you know, I was 18, and I did something silly, and so for the last ten, twelve years, I’ve been on the straight and narrow.”

Upson says for the final day, she will visit the White House and speak with senior administration officials.