Virginia Moves Closer to Abolishing Death Penalty

RICHMOND, VA —The Virginia House of Delegates on Friday passed a bill abolishing the death penalty, a vote that is set to make the state the first in the South to end the practice of capital punishment.

The bill passed on a 57-41 vote. The vote fell mostly along party lines, but three Republicans joined with all Democrats but one in voting for passage. On Wednesday, a companion bill passed in the state Senate by a 21-17 vote.

The bill will soon head to the desk of Gov. Ralph Northam, who has vowed to sign it.

“Today, our Commonwealth took a historic step in making our criminal justice system more just,” Virginia House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn said in a statement. “The repeal of capital punishment in Virginia takes our Commonwealth out of the business of determining life and death and ends a practice that a majority of Virginia oppose.”

With Northam’s signature on the legislation, Virginia will join 22 other states to abolish the death penalty.

In its more than 400-year history, Virginia has executed more people — 1,390 — than any other state. Texas ranks second with 1,322 executions followed by 1,130 executions in New York.

From 1972 to 1976, the death penalty was suspended in the United States. Since 1976, Texas has executed 569 people, the most in the nation by a large margin. During this 45-year period, Virginia ranks second with 113 executions followed by Oklahoma with 112 executions.

Only two men remain on death row in Virginia. The legislation would convert their sentences to life in prison without parole.