• Death penalty, Virginia towards abolition by 2021 thanks to the Dem majority

Share

March 24, 2021 The state of Virginia will become the first state in the South to abolish the death penalty, the 23rd in the United States.

This afternoon the governor of the state, Ralph Northam, after visiting the death room in Jarrett penitentiary signed the law abolishing the death penalty.

The state legislators, in February, had approved a measure that prohibited executions and the governor, on that occasion, had said the death penalty "is unfair, ineffective and inhumane".



Virginia thus becomes one of the 23 states of the United States in which there is no death penalty.

In its history, Virginia has used the death penalty more than any other state in the United States.

Since the Supreme Court reintroduced the death penalty in 1976 (after a moratorium period following a 1972 ruling), Virginia has conducted 113 executions, only being passed by Texas.