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Delegates in Virginia, which over the centuries has executed more prisoners than any other US state, on Friday voted to abolish the death penalty.
The state’s Democratic-led House of Delegates voted 57-41 in favour of the move to end the practice. The Senate passed it earlier this week and Governor Ralph Northam, a Democrat, said he would sign the repeal into law.
Friday’s vote makes Virginia the first state of the former confederate south to turn its back on capital punishment.
Virginia, which last carried out an execution in 2017, has conducted 1,390 since 1608, when it was a British colony. Texas, which became a US state in 1846, has carried out the second most with 68 fewer executions than Virginia.
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Two men remain on Virginia’s death row, including Thomas Porter, who was convicted of killing a police officer in 2005.
During deliberations on Thursday and Friday, several Republican delegates said the death penalty should be retained for the most serious crimes.
“It’s not about revenge, it’s not about retribution. Ultimately, it’s about justice,” Republican delegate Jason Miyares said.
Some Democrats said they supported abolishing the punishment because it was disproportionately used against black people. The risk of executing a person wrongly convicted also warrants the death penalty’s abolition, they said.
Democratic delegate Kathleen Murphy said her brother was murdered years ago and one of his killers was still on death row, but she would vote to repeal.
“People are put to death, more often, because of the colour of their skin than because they are the real criminal who was involved in the crime,” she said on Thursday. “And there are no do-overs.”
Decline in support
Public support for capital punishment has declined in the US. According to Gallup, support has dropped from 80 per cent in 1990 to 55 per cent in 2020.
Abolition is also under consideration at the national level.
Former president Donald Trump resumed the execution of prisoners on federal death row last summer after a 17-year hiatus,and 13 people convicted of murder were killed. In the previous six decades, the federal government carried out only three executions. Last year was the first time the US government executed more people than all 50 state governments combined.
Democrat Joe Biden took office last month as the first US president to commit to seeking to abolish the federal death penalty. Congressional lawmakers are asking him to support Bills that would repeal the death penalty.
Most countries have abolished capital punishment, and the United Nations has long called for a moratorium on executions and urged its abolition worldwide. – Reuters/Guardian