Virginia next in line to abolish death penalty. What鈥檚 behind the shift?
| Richmond, Va.
Rachel Sutphin wasn鈥檛 thinking about the death penalty when her father, Montgomery County Sheriff鈥檚 Deputy Cpl. Eric Sutphin, was killed on duty in Blacksburg, Virginia, in 2006. She was only 9, after all. Nor did she really understand it two years later, when a jury sentenced her father鈥檚 killer, William Morva, to death.
But as Mr. Morva鈥檚 lawyers periodically appealed the verdict over the next decade, his impending death became a recurring source of anxiety in Ms. Sutphin鈥檚 life. By the time she was in high school, Ms. Sutphin had begun writing letters to state legislators arguing against the death penalty. In 2017, when Mr. Morva鈥檚 appeals were exhausted and a date for execution was set, Ms. Sutphin started speaking out publicly and asked then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe for clemency, which he denied. Mr. Morva was killed by lethal injection later that year.聽
鈥淭o me, his death feels like an injustice in our [family鈥檚 search for] justice,鈥� says Ms. Sutphin, who plans to become a pastor after graduating from Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia, in May. 鈥淲e are going to kill this man for killing someone else, to prevent more killings?鈥�
Why We Wrote This
Public views on capital punishment are shifting rapidly, with more states moving to ban it. As with many issues, the change is being driven largely by millennials.
In February, Virginia鈥檚 state legislature voted to abolish the death penalty 鈥� a significant change for a state that has executed more people than any other since its founding and is second only to Texas in executions since the late 1970s. Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam is expected to sign the abolition into law any day now, making Virginia the 23rd state to end the death penalty, and the first state to do so in the South, an area that all other regions in executions.聽聽
The commonwealth鈥檚 move on this issue tracks with shifts in public opinion. A Gallup Poll from last fall found that 聽of Americans support the death penalty, down from a peak of 80% in the mid-1990s. And for the first time, a majority () say life imprisonment without parole is a better punishment for murder than capital punishment.聽
Change on this issue has come swiftly: Virginia will be the 11th state to abolish capital punishment so far in the 21st century. Between 2010 and 2020, the number of death sentences imposed nationwide was of what it was the decade before. And it is broad-based: Although Democrats are more likely to support life imprisonment without parole over the death penalty, the percentage of Republicans who feel the same way has increased 10 points in the past four years.聽
To be sure, Virginia鈥檚 move reflects a larger political transformation in the former Confederate capital, which has shifted from red to purple to聽 in the past few decades. But the death penalty is also one of a host of issues, like聽,聽where there鈥檚 been a dramatic, and rapid, shift in thought nationwide 鈥� a shift driven largely by millennials.聽
鈥淭here has been a generational shift around views of marijuana, abolition of the death penalty, and acceptance of gay marriage,鈥� says Delegate Mike Mullin, a Democrat who sponsored the Virginia House bill. 鈥淢y generation, Republican or Democrat, have wanted a new way.鈥澛�
A racial justice lens
According to Gallup, Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 are far to support the death penalty. Roughly say they would support the death penalty over life imprisonment without parole, compared with 40% of older Americans.
But while public opinion has been shifting quickly, it didn鈥檛 happen automatically, say activists.聽
This year marks the 30th anniversary of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, which launched a five-year abolition plan in 2015. The group canvassed the state to find 鈥渦nexpected or surprising allies,鈥� says聽executive director Michael Stone, such as libertarians, Republican women, and faith leaders.聽
One of those faith leaders is the Rev. Dr. LaKeisha Cook, a justice reform organizer at the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy. She recently started advocating against the death penalty, holding prayer vigils at past lynching sites.聽
鈥淐oming off of the summer, hearing the voices of Black Lives Matter, I think that we need to look at this fight against capital punishment specifically from a racial justice lens,鈥� says Dr. Cook. 鈥淚鈥檓 so grateful to our legislators for not only recognizing our past, but putting us on the path toward reconciliation.鈥�
A by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that defendants who murdered white people were more likely to be sentenced to death than those who murdered Black people, and have come to similar conclusions. As Delegate Mullins points out, of the almost 1,400 people who have been put to death in Virginia since 1608, it wasn鈥檛 until 1997 that a white man was executed for killing a Black man. This racial aspect of capital punishment isn鈥檛 lost on millennials, he adds.
Death penalty opponents also point to fallibility (since 2000, there has been an average of ), as well as cost. Because of the high costs associated with a capital trial and various appeals, lifetime incarceration than execution. Virginia is expected to save by abolishing the death penalty.聽
Capital cases can also be more taxing on the victims鈥� families, as Ms. Sutphin pointed out, since the trials than non-capital trials. With his appeals, Mr. Morva鈥檚 trial lasted 11 years 鈥� which was relatively quick compared to most death penalty cases. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, convicts鈥� average time on death row is聽 迟丑补迟.听
鈥淧ro-life鈥� and against capital punishment
Views of the death penalty have never been exactly split down party lines, with many conservatives opposing capital punishment on religious or moral grounds. Republicans in red states such as , for example, have recently sponsored legislation to abolish it.
Delegate Carrie Coyner, a Republican representing Chesterfield, Virginia, says she voted to end the state鈥檚 death penalty because she is 鈥減ro-life,鈥� and believes that applies to both unborn babies as well as criminals who may have done 鈥渟omething heinous.鈥� As a lawyer, Delegate Coyner knows what it feels like to lie awake at night wondering how she could have argued cases differently. She can鈥檛 imagine what that would be like with capital punishment on the table.聽聽
鈥淲e can all be better than we are today,鈥� says Ms. Coyner. 鈥淚 have a hard time reconciling that idea [with] the state stepping in and choosing to determine that we are going to kill someone.鈥�
Still, Ms. Coyner was one of only three House Republicans who ultimately voted in favor of the bill. And despite some initial Republican support in the upper chamber, no Senate Republicans signed on.
Supporters argue the death penalty is .聽Many add that even if a convicted person is sentenced to life imprisonment without parole, execution is the only way to absolutely ensure the perpetrator will never be on the street again 鈥� and to give victims鈥� families closure. Some also believe capital punishment is a deterrent, though opponents point out that states with death penalty laws don鈥檛 have .
Yet execution isn鈥檛 necessarily the justice that all victims鈥� families want, says Ms. Sutphin.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a common misconception that all murder victims鈥� families want the death penalty, and once they鈥檙e given the death penalty, everything is OK,鈥� says Ms. Sutphin. 鈥淏ut now I just have more dates of death to remember: my father鈥檚 and Morva鈥檚.鈥�
