{"id":164463,"date":"2021-02-23T13:07:57","date_gmt":"2021-02-23T18:07:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=164463"},"modified":"2021-02-23T13:44:21","modified_gmt":"2021-02-23T18:44:21","slug":"virginia-set-to-be-first-southern-state-to-abolish-death-penalty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/virginia-set-to-be-first-southern-state-to-abolish-death-penalty\/","title":{"rendered":"Virginia Set To Be First Southern State To Abolish Death Penalty"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fvirginia-set-to-be-first-southern-state-to-abolish-death-penalty%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=164463&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/67FE506F-705F-4E23-B1B8-D7E94C5BC0E4_1_201_a.jpeg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>On Monday, Virginia\u2019s state Senate passed a bill that was already approved by the House of Delegates officially banning the death penalty in the southern state. The bill now waits to be signed into law by Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, which is expected.<\/p>\n<p>The bill would join Virginia with 22 other states that have voted to end capital punishment. <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/virginia-death-penalty-repeal-governor-c98c16a996037a4d1e1d497787b7e6f1\">The Associated Press<\/a> reported that Virginia has \u201cexecuted more people in its long history than any other.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rachel Sutphin, whose father, Cpl. Eric Sutphin, was fatally shot in 2006 while working for the Montgomery County Sheriff\u2019s Office, was one of 13 family members of murder victims who reportedly sent a letter to the General Assembly in Virginia, asking legislators to get rid of the death penalty.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a realization that it is time to end this outdated practice that tends to bring more harm to victims\u2019 family members than providing us any comfort or solace,\u201d she said. \u201cBy voting for abolition, we are showing the way, that if Virginia \u2014 the state with the longest history and the most people executed \u2014 if we can do it, so can other states.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Virginia has a new Democratic majority and is in complete control of the General Assembly for its second year. The majority party pushed for the ban of the death penalty, \u201carguing that the death penalty has been applied disproportionately to people of color, the mentally ill and the indigent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After the votes, Northam, House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn, and Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw issued a joint <a href=\"https:\/\/www.governor.virginia.gov\/newsroom\/all-releases\/2021\/february\/headline-892925-en.html\">statement<\/a>, saying:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><em>It is vital that our criminal justice system operates fairly and punishes people equitably. We all know the death penalty doesn\u2019t do that. It is inequitable, ineffective, and inhumane.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Over Virginia\u2019s long history, this Commonwealth has executed more people than any other state. And, like many other states, Virginia has come too close to executing an innocent person. It\u2019s time we stop this machinery of death.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Thanks to the vote of lawmakers in both chambers, Virginia will join 22 other states that have ended use of the death penalty. This is an important step forward in ensuring that our criminal justice system is fair and equitable to all.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Republicans, however, had concerns about providing justice for the family members of victims.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, only two men sit on Virginia\u2019s death row. If the bill is signed into law, they will receive sentences of life in prison without parole instead of execution.<\/p>\n<p>During the virtual House debate on Monday, Republican Del. Rob Bell spoke of the killings that put the two men on death row in detail, making the case against the repeal of capital punishment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have five dead Virginians that this bill will make sure that their killers will not receive justice,\u201d Bell said.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Stone, executive director of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, called the vote to abolish capital punishment a landmark moment in the state\u2019s history.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe hope that Virginia will set an example for other states from the old Confederacy to take this bold step toward the humane reform of our legal justice system,\u201d Stone said.<\/p>\n<p>According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/deathpenaltyinfo.org\/facts-and-research\/sentencing-data\/death-sentences-in-the-united-states-from-1977-by-state-and-by-year\">Death Penalty Information Center<\/a>, death sentences in the United States have dropped dramatically over the last decade, with the number of sentences at 223 in 2000, 114 by 2010, and 18 by 2020. In the last 10 years, the sentencing fell from 114 to 18.<\/p>\n<p><em><span>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a<\/span><\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><span>member<\/span><\/a><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Monday, Virginia\u2019s state Senate passed a bill that was already approved by the House of Delegates officially banning the death penalty in the southern state. The bill now waits &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2274037,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/67FE506F-705F-4E23-B1B8-D7E94C5BC0E4_1_201_a.jpeg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Virginia Set To Be First Southern State To Abolish Death Penalty","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-164463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/67FE506F-705F-4E23-B1B8-D7E94C5BC0E4_1_201_a.jpeg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Virginia Set To Be First Southern State To Abolish Death Penalty","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2274037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}