Virginia becomes first state in U.S. South to abolish death penalty

Premium Times

The Democratic governor signed the death penalty repeal into law during a ceremony outside the Greensville Correctional Centre in Jarratt, Virginia, after touring the prison’s execution chamber, where 102 people have been executed since its opening in 1991.

In February, both chambers of Congress voted in favour of scrapping capital punishment.

Virginia joins 22 of the country’s other 50 states that have abolished the death penalty.

“Over our 400-year history, Virginia has executed more people than any other state.

“The death penalty system is fundamentally flawed it is inequitable, ineffective, and it has no place in this Commonwealth or this country.

“Virginia has come within days of executing innocent people, and Black defendants have been disproportionately sentenced to death.

“Abolishing this inhumane practice is the moral thing to do,’’ the governor said.

Virginia has executed over 1,300 people in its history, with the most recent execution carried out in 2017.

This news originally appeared on Premium Times.