STUDIES: Virginia Leads the Country in Death Sentences Resulting in Executions

According to a recent study by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Virginia exe­cutes the high­est pro­por­tion of peo­ple sen­tenced to death of any state in the coun­try. Of the 149 death sen­tences hand­ed down through 2010, 108 have result­ed in an exe­cu­tion, a rate of about 72 per­cent. Virginia is sec­ond to Texas in the total num­ber of exe­cu­tions car­ried out since 1976, but Texas has exe­cut­ed less than half of those sen­tenced to death. In many states, less than 1 in 10 death sen­tences have result­ed in an exe­cu­tion. Inmates in Virginia also spend the short­est time on death row pri­or to exe­cu­tion – on aver­age, just 7.1 years – com­pared to a nation­al aver­age of just over 14 years for those exe­cut­ed in 2009. From the mid-1970s to 1995, just 18% of Virginia death cas­es were reversed by appeals courts. Nationally, 68% of death cas­es were reversed in the same time peri­od. According to Richard J. Bonnie, direc­tor of the Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy at the University of Virginia, ​“almost from the begin­ning, Virginia has basi­cal­ly tried to expe­dite the process of state post-con­vic­tion review and reduce the kinds of claims that can be raised in state courts.” As a result, most of the post-con­vic­tion review occurs in fed­er­al court, par­tic­u­lar­ly the 4^th Circuit, which Bonnie described as ​“reluc­tant to set aside death sentences.” 

Stephen Northup, a Richmond lawyer and exec­u­tive direc­tor of Virginia for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said that the Virginia sys­tem moves too quick­ly and with­out enough scruti­ny. ​“I would say that when it comes to death, cer­tain­ty is more impor­tant than effi­cien­cy,” Northup said. ​“We’re increas­ing the risk that we’re going to exe­cute an inno­cent per­son.” He point­ed to the case of Earl Washington, who was even­tu­al­ly exon­er­at­ed and freed from death row. Rather than find­ing relief from the courts, Washington was spared because of DNA evi­dence and com­mu­ta­tions from two governors.

(F. Green, ​“Path to exe­cu­tion swifter, more cer­tain in Va.,” Richmond Times-Dispatch, December 4, 2011.) See also Virginia, Arbitrariness, and Sentencing.