Virginia was the first southern state to officially abolish the death penalty on Wednesday. Governor Ralph Northam signed a law prohibiting the execution of prisoners from now on. Virginia is the 23rd state to completely abolish the death penalty.
Since 1608, 1,390 people have been sentenced to death in Virginia. The last execution was in 2017. After Texas, the state topped the list of states with the most executions carried out. The previous state to bid farewell to the death penalty was Colorado in 2020.
“As of today, there is no longer any place for the death penalty in Virginia, the South and this country,” the Democratic governor said while signing the law in Greensville prison. “Justice and punishment are not always the same. That has become very clear after 400 years of capital punishment in Virginia.”
The Democrat had long campaigned for the new legislation. Northam called the abolition a morally sound decision. “I can say that the death penalty is fundamentally wrong: we know that the legal system is not always right.”
“Most of the individuals who were executed were of African American descent. Their proportion was disproportionate,” Northam pointed out. He added that people who commit serious crimes will still be punished.
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