The data collected by the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) and the Board of Local and Regional Jails (BLRJ) covers 194 civilian deaths in custody that were applicable under the standards set forth in the Code of Virginia (COV) § 9.1-192.1 in calendar year 2024.

This report reviews and analyzes the 146 civilian deaths that occurred in the custody of Virginia law enforcement agencies and state adult correctional facilities (prisons) that were reported to DCJS and occurred during the period of January 1, 2024, to December 31, 2024. Readers who want to review the 48 cases that happened in the custody of Virginia’s local or regional jails should reference the Board of Local and Regional Jails Calendar Year 2024 Annual Report of Jail Death Reviews found on that agency’s website.

This report describes the data collection system that DCJS developed in 2024, in collaboration with BLRJ and the Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC), to ensure that the data required by COV § 9.1-192.1 are collected in an efficient, accurate, and complete manner. Unlike previous data collection methods, the new system collects data directly from the Commonwealth of Virginia’s law enforcement agencies and incarceration facilities who had custody of the decedent. DCJS analysis shows that this data collection system is performing well.

This report analyzes the data submitted to DCJS in 2024, focusing on the demographics of decedents and how those individuals died. The analysis covers decedent gender, race, ethnicity, age, and manner of death. DCJS found that the majority of the deaths were male (95%) and White (64%). The overrepresentation by males is somewhat consistent with their overrepresentation in the criminal justice system, but is greater in degree (males make up 94% of prison inmates but only 71% of arrestees). Similarly, the underrepresentation of White decedents is consistent with their underrepresentation in the criminal justice system, but to a lesser degree (White individuals make up about 46% of prison inmates and 57% of arrestees). The data also showed that persons who died in prison were more likely to die of natural causes, whereas those who died in law enforcement custody were more likely to die due to officer use of force, based on the manner of death information provided by the law enforcement agencies.

Lastly, this report presents a set of recommendations aimed at reducing the number of civilian deaths in custody, as required by COV § 9.1-192.1. These recommendations were prepared by a working group of subject matter experts that met in quarter 1 of 2025. This group reviewed the deaths in custody data used in this report to formulate their recommendations for how to reduce the number of civilian deaths in custody. Under the advice of this group, DCJS recommends that agencies provide the following additional data, so that more thorough analysis and recommendations can be made in future reports:

1. Provide more detailed summaries of cases.

2. Determine whether the use of force was deemed justified.

3. Determine whether any forms of de-escalation were feasible.

4. Identify what forms of less-lethal technology were available in use of force cases.