News in brief: Virginia governor signs death penalty repeal
Gov Ralph Northam (D-Va.) signed a bill ending the death penalty in Virginia, making the commonwealth the 23rd state to abolish the practice.
Mar 26, 2021
WASHINGTON: Gov Ralph Northam (D-Va.) signed a bill ending the death penalty in Virginia, making the commonwealth the 23rd state to abolish the practice.
“Signing this new law is the right thing to do,”
Northam said at a signing ceremony at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, the former site of executions in the state. “It is the moral thing to do to end the death penalty in the Commonwealth of Virginia.” Northam called the move a “major change” in a commonwealth “that has a long history of capital punishment.”
Throughout its 412-year history as an English colony and a state, Virginia has put to death almost 1,400 people — more than any other state. Since 1976, Virginia has executed 113 people, more than any state except Texas.
It is now the first southern state to end capital punishment.
The Virginia Catholic Conference supported the repeal legislation, which was approved by the state’s legislature last month. — CNA
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