Virginia becomes first southern state to abolish death penalty

By Teddy Grant Published: March 25, 2021

Virginia becomes first southern state to abolish death penalty

FILE - In this Sept. 1, 2020, file photo, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam answers a reporter's question during a news briefing in Richmond, Va. Members of anti-government paramilitary groups discussed kidnapping Virginia's governor during a June meeting in Ohio, an FBI agent testified Tuesday, Oct. 13 during a court hearing in Michigan. Special Agent Richard Trask was part of the investigation that led to six men being arrested and charged last week with plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. (Bob Brown/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP, File)

By: Teddy Grant

Virginia’s Democratic governor, Ralph Northam on Wednesday, signed a bill into law that abolished the state’s death penalty, making it the first Southern state to do so.

“Justice and punishment are not always the same thing; that is too clearly evident in 400 years of the death penalty in Virginia,” Northam said, according to NBC News.

Virginia is the 23rd state to ban the death penalty.

“I can say the death penalty is fundamentally flawed,” he said. “We know the system doesn’t always get it right,” he said, adding, “Make no mistake — if you commit the most serious of crimes, you will be punished.”

Virginia has executed 1,390 people, with most being African-Americans, Northam said. Adding that this move to ban capital punishment helps address the inequities in the state.

The commonwealth has been executing individuals since colonial times, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

According to NBC News, the state’s executed 113 people since 1976, when the United States Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty. No one has been put to death since 2017.

“It’s an opportunity for us to reflect on our history, to acknowledge that there are a lot of things that were not good about our history, and to really right a wrong,” Northam told NBC.