Status: 25.03.2021 09:27 a.m.
–
–
–
Nearly 1,400 people have been executed in Virginia to date – more than any other US state. The Democratic Governor Northam has now signed a law abolishing the death penalty.
The US state of Virginia has abolished the death penalty. Democratic Governor Ralph Northam signed the law in Greensville Prison in Jarratt, where the state carried out death sentences. Northam spoke of a “moral” choice. Virginia did not apply the death penalty “fairly”, in principle it could not be ensured that innocent people would not be sentenced to death.
After a long debate, both houses of the Virginia parliament approved the abolition in February with their Democratic majority. Two men are currently on death row in the US state. Your sentence will be changed to life imprisonment with no prospect of early release.
The abolition in Virginia is a symbolically significant step: In the area of what is now Virginia, the first execution on what is now US territory was carried out in 1608. Settlers executed a captain for spying for Spain.
Nearly 1,400 people executed in Virginia
To date, nearly 1,400 people have been executed in Virginia – more than any other state, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The majority of those executed were black. Critics see links to the history of slavery. 102 people have been executed at Greensville Prison since it opened. During the American Civil War, Virginia’s capital, Richmond, was the capital of the southern states that fought to preserve slavery.
Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, the committee chairman responsible for the US Catholic Bishops’ Conference, welcomed the move as a “courageous step towards a culture of life”. He urged all other states as well as the federal government in Washington to do the same. Coakley congratulated the Virginia bishops and Catholic lobby groups for “working hard” to achieve this.
Death penalty highly controversial in the US
Abolitionist Senator Scott Surovell said Virginia has an “ugly history” of the death penalty, which is primarily directed against black people. Until a few years ago, the rejection of the death penalty was “not a popular view” here. Questions about the possible innocence of death row inmates would have changed many people’s mind.
The death penalty issue is highly controversial in the United States. Virginia is the 23rd US state and the first in the former southern states to abolish the death penalty. Three others – California, Oregon, and Pennsylvania – have suspended enforcement. A moratorium also applied at the federal level for 17 years. Executions of convicted felons resumed last July under former President Donald Trump.
Trump’s successor Joe Biden rejects the nation-state death penalty. Democratic congressmen and senators have already tabled a bill to be abolished.
Execution State of Virginia abolishes the death penalty
Jule Käppel, ARD Washington, March 25, 2021 10:27 a.m.
–
–
–
