11/13/2017
The Death Penalty
in Virginia
November 14, 2017
Loudoun County Democrats
Sterling, VA
Historical Background on
Virginia & the Death Penalty
Hanging was the predominant
method for executions before
Other methods were used — three
people convicted of piracy in 1700
were gibbeted, four pirates were
hanged in chains in 1720, and a
female slave was burned in 1737.
From 1910 until 1994, the electric
chair was used for all executions.
A Legacy of Lynchings
as MAP OF VIRGINIA'S.
LYNCHING HISTORY
electric wires.
‘and executed by hanging in the Roanoke jail yard.
Virginia’s Anti-Lynching Law of 1928
FARRER «From 1880 to 1930 at least
Meare 70 black men in Virginia
: were lynched.
* Law rooted in concern that
mob violence was a threat
to attract business &
industry.
* No white person was ever
convicted of lynching an
African-American.
Public Executions
Roanoke's racial climate was typical in the South.
“During this era, both Iynchings and executions
typically drew large crowds of spectators," said
Ted DeLaney, associate professor of history at
Washington and Lee University. "There were
executions and lynchings in other parts of the
South that drew crowds as large as 3,
‘Sometimes public schools would close so children
could be present.”
— "Roanoke's last public execution," Roanoke Times
(lune 14, 2007)
Modern Death Penalty Era
* U.S. Supreme Court outlawed capital
punishment in 1972 (Furman v. Georgia)
= Inconsistent application of the DP
~ Racial disparities in the DP
* Revised state laws approved by the U.S.
Supreme Court in 1976 (Gregg v. Georgia)
- Implemented two stage trail process
- Aggravating & mitigating factors
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~ Death Penalty States Death Penalty States (blue)
South Carolina
‘New Hampshire
North Carolina
Ohio
Kansas Oklahoma U.S. Government
Kentucky Oregon US. Military
Pennsylvania
Executions by State Since 1976 States With Most Executions (red)
As of October 10, 2017
sa Missisipp! 21 Montana 3
113 Indana 20 ldaho 3
tia (Deleware | 26 | southoatoea «3
36 [callers | 43. (Us.coverment | 3
22 ilnas 2 2
7 Ne 12 New Mexico i
@ Uah 7 Col i
ohio 55 Temessee | 6 | Wyoming ri
North carolina 43. Maryland == Connecticut i
South Carina 43. Washington 5
itor 37 Nebraska 3 TOTAL 1461
Atanas 31 Pemnsyvania 3
Louisiana 28 Kentucky 3
SURE: bet fray narmation Centr We ste Osne 10217]
Death Row Prisoners by State
As of July 1, 2016 Geography of the Death Penalty
California 7a1 Oklahoma
48 Washington 3
Flori 396 Mississippi 47 Utah 3 am ae
Texas 254 South Carolina 43, 7 ee
‘Alabama 198 Arkansas 36 US. Military 6
Pennsylvania 175 Kentucky 34 3
15 34° South Dakota = 3 sak south:
hi aa 26 Montana 2 co mMidwest
‘Acizona 126 Delaware* «18 NewMexico* = 2 600, West
20 Indiana 32 wyoming 2
Louisiana 77 Kansas 10 NewHampshire 1 400 _ enone
Tennessee 69 Nebraska 10 60: = aka VA
Georgia 68 Idaho 9 TOTAL 2,905 7
US. Government 62. .
11/13/2017
Virginia & the Death Penalty
* Virginia has executed 113
people since 1976, tied for
cal second most in the United
~ States.
Virginia executes the highest percentage of
those sentenced to death (75%) in the U.S.
Virginia is fastest in the nation from
sentencing to execution (7.1 years on
average).
Conservative Arguments
Against the Death Penalty
1. Limited government
PROUD i ibili
CONSERVATIVE! 2. Fiscal responsibility, and
NED 3. the danger of executing
an innocent person, and
4. Collateral Damage.
1. Limited Government
* The power to execute is
perhaps the greatest power
government could exercise over
IS NOT FREE) _ itscitizens.
There is good reason to be
GOVERNMENT, Suspicious of this power.
is LIMITED * Error or, even worse, abuse in
the exercise of this power leads
to deprivation of the very rights
government should protect —
life, liberty, and property.
Deterrence to Murder @®
olGr
* Areport by the National Research Council,
titled Deterrence and the Death Penalty,
stated that studies claiming that the death
penalty has a deterrent effect on murder
rates are “fundamentally flawed” and should
not be used when making policy decisions
(2012).
Public Safety
* Average murder rate in states with the death
penalty (2014): 4.75 per 100,000 people
* Average murder rate in states without the
death penalty (2014): 3.70 per 100,000 people
* In polls from 1995 and 2009, police chiefs
ranked the death penalty least effective
among ways to reduce violent crime.
In Virginia it’s easier to take
a person's liberty or life
than their property:
+ In civil lawsuits, both sides must turn over
virtually everything to the opponent and sit
for pretrial depositions.
* Criminal defendants are not entitled to
the police reports in their case, the
witness statements against them or even
a witness list.
11/13/2017
“Trial by ambush has
been the norm ...”
* Retired Loudoun Circuit
Court Judge Thomas D.
Horne
Death Penalty
Disparities in Virginia:
+ Aperson is over THREE times as likely to be
sentenced to death if the victim is white
than when the victim is black.
Murder convictions in rural and
suburban areas are TWICE as likely to
end in the death penalty as those in
urban jurisdictions.
veg Sem apa Pash 23
Death Penalty ails
Disparities in Virginia:
65% of the 133 political jurisdictions in the
‘Commonwealth have NOT had an execution since 1976.
+ Three
ns [Che i, Prince William, &
Virginia Beach] a are salt for 23% of executions.
* Seven jurisdictions [Chesterfield, Fairfax, Hampton,
Pittsylvania, Portsmouth, Prince William, & Virginia
Beach] account for 41% of the state’s executions.
2. Fiscal Responsibility
Why the death penalty is so
expensive:
* Additional legal costs
* Complicated pretrial procedures
* Time consuming jury selection
1 * Separate sentencing trial
* Lengthy mandatory post-conviction
appeals in state & federal courts
* Higher incarceration costs for
death row
Death Penalty Costs in Kansas
Cost tems CopitalTiials | Noncopitaltias |
Defense $395,762 $98,968
Tal Court $72,530 $21,554
Juries 40.13 days 16.79 days
Prison $49,380/year | _ §24,680/year
Cases that did not
go totrial
Defense $130,595, 364.711
Tal Court $16,263 $7,384
* Justices of the Kansas Supreme Court assigned to write opinions
sppeals
than on non-death appeals
sete Fe 038
3. The Problem of Innocence
Eos * Since 1973, 160 people have
been released from death row
with evidence of their innocence.
* Many others have been executed
while serious doubts have been
raised regarding their verdict.
* Since 1976, there is a ratio of one
innocent person freed from
death row for every 11
executions!
11/13/2017
An Innocent Man on
Virginia’s Death Row
Earl Washington
Causes of Wrongful Capital Convictions
Number of Cases
Tete Sn Gen fe eons Or
Causes
SOURCE: 2001 study by he Center on Wrongful Convictions at
‘Northwestern Law Schoo!
CSI Mythology
* DNA is a powerful tool,
but such evidence is
available in only 5-10%
of criminal cases.
* Imperfect forensic analysis
* Crime lab scandals
(e.g., hair & bite mark analysis)
* Prosecutorial misconduct
4. Collateral Damage
Human cost of the death penalty
Few people consider the impact of capital punishment on
a wide range of people who are part of the system:
= Victim family members
~ Prosecutors
~ Defense attorneys
= Judges and jurors
Family members of death row inmates
Wardens and corrections officers
Executioners
Daughter of a slain state trooper
Having spent my entire life without my
dad, | was angry and had wanted his
¥ killers executed.
But over time, after I saw how the death
penalty system actually works, my
feelings on the issue changed.
1 believed that the death penalty would
benefit people like my mother and me,
but in reality nothing could be further
from the truth.
- Neely Goen, Op-Ed in Wichita Eagle
(February 6, 2013)
Former Georgia death row guard reflects
In many ways, we were the only
friends these men [death row
inmates] had in the end. ...
Iwill say this: | don’t believe that when hj
we execute a person that it’s the Be A
same person who committed that :
crime. 1 do believe people can
change.
11/13/2017
Former Virginia Executioner
I worked as a prison guard saving lives most of
the time. But when I took on the role of
executioner, !had to become a killer...
The Earl Washington case [who was exonerated
by DNA evidence in 1993] shook my faith in
Six Former Executioners Speak Out
While most of the prisoners whose executions we
‘participated in accepted responsibilty for the crimes
‘for which they were punished, some of us have also
‘executed prisoners who maintained their innocence
Until the end. Its those cases that are most haunting
to an executioner.
the justice system. | came within days of ttoe Leone
putting ‘an eaten ‘man to death. ” pred fig tharae ae ap a Mieong.
i i that! ‘ota
executed, The only thing I can do is pray to God to forgive me if did. there isan eltematie?
+ “Ex-Virginia executioner becomes opponent of death =A nt ted es eps epee ips ne
penalty,” Washington Post (February 10, 2013) :
~ Ron MeAndrew~Reted Werden, lide Stat Pion
— kone Woodford ete Werden, on Quentin Sate Prison
Problems with the death penalty Religious Teachings on
KILLERS AS STARS GS Capital Punishment
oppose suppor
* Capital cases put the focus on killers instead of Seaiees Gad Fimeniededaeny
the friends & family members of their victims (Ranged latharad eacn er amenes
. ‘Presbyterian Church USA. MIXED/NEUTRAL
* The mandatory appeals keep the killer’s photo ‘*+Episcopal Church ‘National Association of Evangelical
and story in front of the public for many years.
* The many appeals force family members of
victims to relive the trauma over & over again.
United church of Christ * Church of Latter Day Saints
“Conservative, Reform & Reconstructionist + Buddhism
Jewish movements Orthodox: moratorium) Hinduism
SOURCES: The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and ReligiousTolerance 079
But the
turning against
the death
penalty.
19 States have abolished
the death penalty
Michigan | 1846 | lowa 1965 | NewYork | 2007
Wisconsin | 1853 | West Virginia 1965 | New Mexico | 2003
Maine | 1887 | North Dakota 1973 | linois 2011
Minnesota | 1911 taai_| Connecticut | 2012
‘Alaska | 1957 | Massachusetts 1984 | Maryland | 2013
Hawaii | 1957 | Rhodelsland 1984 | Delaware | 2016
Vermont | 1964 | NewJersey 2007
11/13/2017
11 more states have had no
executions in the past ten years
California 2006 | New Hampshire 1939
Colorado 1997 | North Carolina 2006
Kansas 1965 | Oregon 1997
Montana 2006 | Pennsylvania 1999
Nebraska 1997 | Wyoming 1992
Nevada 2006
SOURCE: Desh ey ein Canter ab Ste tber,2027,
Red States Close to Abolition
* 2016: Utah Senate votes to end
the DP & a key House committee
agrees, but the bill fell a few votes
short on the House floor.
2015: Montana Senate votes for abolition, but
failed in the House on a 50-50 tie vote.
2014: New Hampshire House voted 225-104 to
end the DP, but failed in Senate on tie vote.
More States Considering DP Abolition
Conservative Voices Against
the Death Penalty
“| supported the death penalty for all of my
public life — as a Virginia State Senator, Attorney
General, and Republican candidate for governor.
Today, | can still make a conceptual argument as
to why it should be a tool in the arsenal of a
prosecutor — but it is just an argument. And, to
me, the argument is tired, strained, and no
longer defensible.”
* Mark Earley, a Republican former Virginia
‘Attorney General who oversaw 36 executions
Others Conservatives Opposed
to the Death Penalty
NUMBER OF EXECUTIONS
SINCE 1976: 1444
Edward Crane | Founder & President of | Oliver North | Columnist & former US.
‘The CATO institute Counter-Terrorism
Coordinator
Rod Dreher | SeniorEditoratThe | gillO'Rellly _| Fox television host &
Jeff Frazee a Dr. Ron Paul
‘Americans for Liberty Presidential candidate
Drew Johnson |Feliow atthe Texpayers | Ramesh Senior Editor for
Protection Aliance | Ponnuru _| National Review
JackKemp | Former Republican | Lawrence _| President of the
Congressman & Vice | Reed Foundation for
Presidential Candidate Economic Education
Larry Founder of Judicial | George will | Columnist
Klayman | Watch
11/13/2017
Number of Death Sentences
By Year
Virginia Death Sentences, 1977 - 2015
Number of Death Sentences
“FPP P IP PDO RIPE P PE IS SS
Public Opinion on the Death Penalty
‘A 2010 poll by Lake Research Partners found that
a clear majority of voters (61%) would choose a punishment
other than the death penalty for murder.
Life without parole pls
restitution
1 Death penalty
Life without parole
Life with parole
‘= No opinion
Latest Public Opinion Data
A September 2016 poll by the Pew Research Center
found that only half of Americans (49%) now favor
the death penalty, while 42% oppose it.
Opposition to the death penalty is now the highest
‘that it has been since 1972.
tren ound
+ Virginia used to sentence 5-10 people to death and
execute as many as 14 people in one year.
* Only three executions in the past five years.
+ No new death sentence in 6 years.
+ The last death sentence was in September 2011.
= There have been over 2,400 murders in Virginia
since then.
* No jury has imposed a death sentence in any of
those cases.
Virginians for Alternatives
to the Death Penalty
http://www.vadp.org/
Ending the Death
f Penalty through
Education,
VIRGINIANS FOR a
ALTERNATIVES famed
TO THE DEATH PENALTY Advocacy
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0