Virginia governor expected to sign death penalty ban

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) is expected to sign legislation on Wednesday abolishing the death penalty in the state.

Northam is expected to sign the legislation on Wednesday after a tour of the death chamber at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarrett, Va., The Associated Press reports.

Virginia would become the 23rd state to abolish the death penalty and the first Southern state to do so, according to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC).

Virginia hasn’t used the death penalty since 2017.

The signing comes after the state legislature approved a measure in February that would ban the death penalty. The governor said in a statement at the time that the death penalty is “is inequitable, ineffective, and inhumane.”

“Over Virginia’s 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’s time we stop this machinery of death,” Northam said.

The conversation around the death penalty came to the forefront after former President Trump’s administration increased the use of capital punishment over the past four years.

A study from the DPIC released in December found that the federal government executed more prisoners last year than states that carry out the death penalty.