Northam Signs Historic Bill Abolishing Death Penalty In Virginia

VIRGINIA — Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam on Wednesday signed into law a bill abolishing the death penalty, a dramatic shift in policy for a state that has executed more people in its history than any other state.

Northam signed the bill at the Greensville Correctional Center near Jarratt, a prison facility that houses the state's execution chamber. Virginia now joins 22 other states and the District of Columbia in banning capital punishment and is the first state in the South to abolish the death penalty.

Virginia has many accomplishments in its history about which to be proud, but the death penalty is not one of them, Northam said in a speech prior to signing the bill. "There is no place today for the death penalty in this Commonwealth, in the South, or in this nation," he said.

Ending the death penalty in Virginia "is the moral thing to do," the governor added.

Virginia state lawmakers gave final approval on Feb. 22 to legislation to end the death penalty in the state. The House version of the bill, H.B. 2263, was sponsored by Del. Mike Mullin (D-93rd), while the Senate version, S.B. 1165, was sponsored by Sen. Scott Surovell (D-36th).

"I never dreamed that Virginia would change as fast as it did," Surovell, who was first elected to the House of Delegates in 2009, said Wednesday at the signing ceremony.

The bill to abolish the death penalty in Virginia succeeded in 2021, according to Surovell, partly due to Northam's support for getting rid of capital punishment prior to this year's General Assembly session and a strong push for criminal justice reform and racial justice in the wake of the death of George Floyd in May 2020 at the knee of a Minneapolis police officer.

"I cannot think of anything that is more awful, unspeakable and wrong for a government to do than to use its power to execute somebody who didn't commit the crime they're accused of. The problem with capital punishment is that once it's inflicted you can't take it back, it can't be corrected," Surovell said as he introduced the bill earlier this year.

In the Senate, Sen. Jill Vogel (R-27th) was the only Republican to join with Democrats to vote to end the death penalty. In the House, two Republican members, Del. Jeff Campbell (6th District) and Del. Carrie Coyner (62nd District), joined the chamber's Republicans to approve the bill.

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Starting from the Colonial period, Virginia has executed 1,390 people, more than any other state. Texas ranks second with 1,322 executions followed by 1,130 executions in New York.

Since the federal death penalty was reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1988, executions carried out by the federal government in the U.S. were rare until Trump's presidency. Before Trump took office in 2017, only three federal executions had taken place in this period.

From 1972 to 1976, the death penalty was suspended in the United States. Since 1976, Texas has executed 569 people, the most in the nation by a large margin. During this 45-year period, Virginia ranks second with 113 executions followed by Oklahoma with 112 executions.

In 1991, Virginia moved its execution chamber from Richmond to the facility in Greensville County. During its time housing the execution chamber, 101 people were executed at the Greensville facility.

The move by Virginia contrasts with Republican-controlled states where the death penalty remains popular. It also differs from the practices of the federal government during President Donald Trump's presidency.

Trump was the country's most prolific execution president in more than a century, overseeing the execution of 13 death row inmates since July 2020.

In the lead-up to the passage of the bill in the General Assembly, the Wason Center for Civic Leadership at Christopher Newport University released a poll showing that a majority of Virginians (56 percent) support repeal of the death penalty. Support for getting rid of the death penalty was strongest among Democrats (74 percent), Black voters (72 percent), and people under 45 (62 percent). More than one-third of Republican respondents (36 percent) said they supported the measure.

Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of the Diocese of Arlington and Bishop Barry C. Knestout of the Diocese of Richmond issued a joint statement Wednesday applauding Northam for signing the bill.

"Looking back, we sadly reflect on our Commonwealth’s disturbing and tragic history of executions — carried out more frequently here than in any other state in our country’s history," Burbidge and Knestout said. "As we move forward, we embrace this hope-filled new beginning."

Among other supporters of abolishing the death penalty in Virginia are many of the candidates running for statewide office this year.

“It is poetic justice that Virginia, the state that has executed more people than any other state in the country, has now abolished the death penalty," state Sen. Jennifer McClellan (D), who is running for governor, said in a statement. "I was proud to co-sponsor the bill with Sen. Surovell to finally end this outdated system of barbaric punishment that disproportionately punished Black and brown people."

Former Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy, who is also running for governor, expressed gratitude to the people in the state who led the effort to abolish the death penalty.

"Today is a hard-fought win to be celebrated, and I look forward as governor to building on our progress and continuing the work to ensure our criminal justice system is fair and just for all Virginians," Carroll Foy said.

“The death penalty is an archaic, inhumane method of punishment that does nothing to make Virginians safer," said Sean Perryman, a lawyer and former president of the Fairfax County NAACP who is running for lieutenant governor. "I am proud that our state legislature made repealing the death penalty a priority this year and am grateful that Gov. Northam signed this bill into law today.”

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