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Sr. Helen Prejean
Presentation at Randolph College in Lynchburg
March 27, 2018
Key Talking Points About Virginia
Virginia has executed more people in the modern era (113)
than any other state except for Texas.
*” Since the 1608 founding of Jamestown, Virginia has executed
more than 1,300 people, the most of any other state. Virginia
has also executed more women and the youngest children of
any state.
* But this is a new era. The last death sentence given in
Virginia was in September 2011 -- six and half years ago.
There are now only three people on death row in Virginia.
One of them (Thomas Porter) is likely to be executed later this
year. The other two will reach the end of their appeals in
2019.
There is growing conservative opposition to capital
punishment. One former Virginia Attorney General who
oversaw 36 executions, Mark Earley, and one former
Republican Congressman, Tom Bliley, now oppose the death
penalty. Many other conservative leaders across the state are
joining them.
* Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (VADP) leads
opposition to capital punishment in the Commonwealth.
A coalition of VADP, the Virginia Catholic Conference, the
ACLU of Virginia, and a wide range of mental health
organizations are working to pass legislation that would
exempt people with severe mental illness from the death
penalty.
“* Help VADP make Virginia the first southern state to abolish
the death penalty!
“ There is a VADP resource table here tonight where people can
get information resources and sign up to learn more about the
death penalty.
