Ce: Virginia’s Death Penalty
VIRGINIANS FOR What are the facts?
ALTERNATIVES
TO THE DEATH PENALTY
Innocent People May Die
“¢ Since 1973, 159 people on death row have been exonerated while 1,456 have been executed.
That is at least one innocent person on death row for every nine executions!
“+ Just days before Earl Washington Jr. was to be executed, Virginia allowed DNA evidence to be
examined which proved his innocence. However, the vast majority of capital cases have no
biological evidence to test.
It Does Not Deter Crime
A study of leading criminologists published in June 2009
in Northwestern University School of Law’s Journal of ie |
Criminal Law and Criminology found: Better y, Jobs fe ne
‘implifying Court Rules 16%
* 88% of the country’s top criminologists do not believe the fieager : : 15%
death penalty acts as a deterrent to homicide. More Police 10% |
B%| |
* 87% percent of the expert criminologists believe that spate ely a a
death penalty abolition would not have any significant
fo 1% % 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%
effect on murder rates. 0% 5% 10% 15%
Percent Naming Item As Primary Focus
* 75% of the respondents agree that “debates about the A 1995 Hart Research Poll of police chiefs in
death penalty distract Congress and state legislatures from the US put the death penalty last (at 1%) in
focusing on real solutions to crime problems.” identifying items that reduce violent crime.
The Death Penalty Is Too Expensive
No cost study has yet been done in VIRGINIA. Those that have studied the cost found irrefutable data that
the death penalty costs taxpayers more than life imprisonment:
In CALIFORNIA the current system costs $137 million per year; it would cost $11.5 million for a sys-
tem without the death penalty. (California Ci ssion for the Fair Adi ation of Justice, July 2008)
In KANSAS, the costs of capital cases are 70% more expensive than comparable non-capital cases, in-
cluding the costs of incarceration. (Kansas Performance Audit Report, December 2003)
NORTH CAROLINA taxpayers spend $2.16 million per execution over the costs of sentencing murder-
ers to life imprisonment. (Duke University, May 1993)
In FLORIDA $51 million per year is spent above what it would cost to punish all 1*-degree murderers
with life without parole. (Palm Beach Post, January 2000)
In MARYLAND death penalty cases cost 3 times more than non-death penalty cases, or $3 million for a
single case. (Urban Institute, The Cost of the Death Penalty in Maryland, March 2008)
The greatest costs associated with the death penalty occur prior to and during trial, not in post-conviction
proceedings. Even if all post-conviction proceedings (appeals) were abolished, the death penalty would still
be more expensive than alternative sentences.
Race Plays A Role
Researchers in Virginia found that a person is over three times as likely to be sentenced to
death when the victim is white vs. when the victim is black (Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and
Review Cc ission of Capital Punish
Race of Defendants Executed Race of Victim in Death Penalty
Hispanic About 80% of the
4 5% — murder victims in
mBlack - 383 ae
" . cases resulting in an
taMispanic ~79 execution were white,
O White - 633 even though nationally
Other - 24 SN only 50% of murder
‘Other Victims generally are
2% white.
Geography Determines Execution Rates
Since 1977, about 90% of all US executions have been carried out in the south.
With 113 persons executed since 1982, Virginia is second only Texas in the number of
people executed in the modern era.
Only 35% of the 133 political jurisdictions in Virginia have had someone executed since
1976. Three jurisdictions have 23% of Virginia’s executions. Seven jurisdictions account for
41% of the state’s executions!
In Virginia, murder convictions ending in the death penalty are twice as likely in suburban and
rural jurisdictions as in urban jurisdictions.
Public Opinion Favors The Alternative
Support for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
No opinion
6%
Death penalty
33%
* A 2010 poll by Lake Research Partners found that
aclear majority of voters (61%) would choose a
punishment other than the death penalty for
murder.
Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty * P.O. Box 12222 * Richmond, VA 23241
(434) 960-7779 * office@VADP.org * www.vadp.org
