Virginia abolishes the death penalty, becoming first southern state to end capital punishment

Virginia became the 23rd state to abolish the death penalty Wednesday after Governor Ralph Northam signed legislation that would end the use of capital punishment in the commonwealth.

"There is no place today for the death penalty in this commonwealth, in the South, or in this nation," Northam said in a speech Wednesday before he signed the bill. He called capital punishment "fundamentally flawed" and noted that it was disproportionately levied against Black people. Over Virginia's 400-year history, the commonwealth has executed more than 1,300 people — more than any other state, Northam said. Virginia will become the first state of the former Confederacy to abolish the death penalty, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.