History of the Death Penalty
,Nov 07, 2022
Virginia made history in 2021 when it became the first Southern state to abolish the death penalty. Closing the Slaughterhouse: The Inside Story of Death Penalty Abolition in Virginia tells the story of the commonwealth’s…
Race
,Jan 21, 2021
In February 1951, Virginia executed seven Black men on charges they had raped a white woman two years earlier. The “Martinsville 7” — Francis DeSales Grayson, Frank Hairst…
History of the Death Penalty
,Recent Legislative Activity
,Mar 24, 2021
Saying “[t]here is no place today for the death penalty in this commonwealth, in the South, or in this nation,” Governor Ralph Northam (pictured) signed historic legislation making Virginia the 23rd U.S. state and the first in the Sout…
Recent Legislative Activity
,Feb 24, 2021
Death-penalty repeal legislation in Virginia will move to Governor Ralph Northam’s desk, after both houses approved the bill passed earlier in the session in the opposite chamber. Virginia’s legislative rules required the House of Delegates to pas…
Race
,Recent Legislative Activity
,Religion
,Jan 15, 2021
Legislators in the Virginia House and Senate are poised to attempt a repeal of its capital punishment statute, as Governor Ralph Northam (pictured) announced that he would sponsor a bill to end the commonwealth’s …
History of the Death Penalty
,Public Opinion
,Recent Legislative Activity
,Feb 05, 2021
With two historic votes, the Virginia General Assembly has moved the commonwealth to the cusp of becoming the first Southern state to abolish capital punishment, approving separate bills that would end the state’s death penalty an…
Recent Legislative Activity
,Feb 04, 2021
The Virginia Senate moved the commonwealth one step closer to becoming the first Southern state to abolish capital punishment, voting 21 – 17 on February 3, 2021 to approve a bill that would end the state’s death penalty and resente…
