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Virginia state capitol. (Sean Pavone/Shutterstock)
Mar. 24, 2021
Catholic News Agency
WASHINGTON – Gov. Ralph Northam signed a bill Wednesday ending the death penalty in Virginia, making the commonwealth the 23rd state to abolish the practice.
“Signing this new law is the right thing to do,” Northam said at a signing ceremony at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, the former site of executions in the state. “It is the moral thing to do to end the death penalty in the Commonwealth of Virginia.”
Northam called the move a “major change” in a commonwealth “that has a long history with capital punishment.”
Throughout its 412-year history as an English colony and a state, Virginia has put to death almost 1,400 people - more than any other state, according to AP. Since 1976, Virginia has executed 113 people, more than any state except Texas.
It is now the first southern state to end capital punishment.
The Virginia Catholic Conference supported the repeal legislation, which was approved by the state’s legislature last month.
“Looking back, we sadly reflect on our Commonwealth’s disturbing and tragic history of executions – carried out more frequently here than in any other state in our country’s history,” the state’s bishops said in a joint statement.
“As we move forward, we embrace this hope-filled new beginning,” Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington and Bishop Barry Knestout of Richmond stated,” adding that “all human life is sacred. We are grateful to those who worked to make this a reality.”
The bishops said that their dioceses “also continue our prayers for families of victims of horrific crimes and renew our commitment to provide for their pastoral support. We stand ready to accompany them in their journey to find healing and peace.”
The chair of the U.S. bishops’ domestic justice and human development committee also praised the repeal, calling it “a bold step towards a culture of life.”
“Congratulations are in order for the Virginia bishops, the Virginia Catholic Conference, the Catholic Mobilizing Network, and all other advocates who worked very hard to achieve this historic result,” Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City stated on Wednesday.
During Lent, he added, Catholics “are reminded that God created and loves every person, and we can respond to this love with reverence for the dignity of every human life, no matter how broken, unformed, disabled, or desperate that life may seem.”
He also called on “all other states and the federal government” to follow suit and repeal their death penalty statutes.
Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, executive director of the anti-death penalty advocacy group Catholic Mobilizing Network, said in a statement that Virginia’s repeal “signifies the growing consensus that capital punishment is a flawed and morally bankrupt system that violates the sanctity of human life.”
“From the pews to the pulpit, many Virginia Catholics were persistent advocates who paved the way for the commonwealth’s abolition of the death penalty,” Vaillancourt Murphy said.
The Catholic Mobilizing Network said Virginia has “a long history of slavery, lynching, and systemic racism,” and the modern death penalty system in the United States “is a direct byproduct of these legacies of racial violence.”
“We are hopeful that Virginia’s repeal will signal to other southern states that the death penalty is an immoral and racist relic,” Vaillancourt Murphy said.