Capital Punishment in Virginia
May 7, 2012
Noon - 12:30pm
Temple Israel - Norfolk
Overview of Virginia’s Death Penalty 5 minutes
t.
Virginia is second in the nation in the number of executions (109) since the
death penalty was reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1976.
. Our death row currently has 11 men in residence.
. Virginia is fastest in the nation in moving from conviction to execution - about
seven years.
Recent Trends 5 minutes
A. In recent years, there has been a significant decline in the number of
capital prosecutions being brought, the number of death sentences
being returned and the number of executions.
B. There has been a noticeable increase in public opposition to the death
penalty, including from the governing bodies of a number of Churches and
a number of other organizations.
C. Four states have repealed capital punishment in the last five years - New
Jersey, New Mexico, Illinois and Connecticut, thus reducing to 33 the
number of states with capital punishment. One third of our states (17)
now do not have capital punishment. Strong repeal efforts are currently
under way in a number of other states, including California, Maryland,
Kansas, and Colorado. Others states are not far away from active repeal
campaigns - Montana & Nebraksa.
Capital Punishment is Bad Public Policy 10 minutes
A. Capital Punishment is Poorly Administered
¢@ Racial bias is endemic in the criminal justice system & in the use of
the death penalty.
« The system is arbitrary & unfair. The vast majority of death
sentences & executions in death penalty states like ours originate in
a tiny number of jurisdictions. In Virginia most of them come from
Virginia Beach, Fairfax, & Prince William.
@ Inthe past 35 years 140 people have been freed from death row &
found innocent of the crimes for which they were convicted. In the
same time frame over 1,200 have been executed. That’s a ratio of
one innocent person for every ten executed. One of these
exonerations was from Virginia - Earl Washington.
In July a federal judge overturned a death penalty murder conviction
of Justin Wolfe here in Virginia. He was highly critical of the
prosecutor, saying that he had knowingly used perjured testimony &
withheld 10 separate pieces of evidence that could have exonerated
Mr. Wolfe. The Appeals Court hearing will take place next week.
B. Capital Punishment is Not Necessary
¢ Earlier this year I met with the # 3 person in Virginia’s DOC.
Although he supports the death penalty, he told me that it would not
trouble him for the General Assembly to abolish capital punishment.
He said that DOC could readily handle any killer within their system
of super maximum security prisons.
C. Capital Punishment is Exceedingly Expensive
Q&A
¢ Although Virginia does not collect this kind of data, studies from
multiple states show that a death penalty case costs at least twice as
much as a non-capital case. One study showed that capital cases
cost ten times as much! The high costs arise from the penalty phase
of the prosecution & mandatory appeals that the Supreme Court has
mandated because “death is different.”
10 minutes
Closing comments
Today I ask for three things:
1. If you are opposed to capital punishment, please join VADP as an
individual.
2. Consider having your church become involved with VADP.
3. Help me identify “unlikely allies” in the fight against capital punishment -
law enforcement, prosecutors, violent crime victims, Republicans, etc.
4. Recommend other faith leaders with whom I should meet in the coming
weeks.
Ihave some hand-outs & VADP membership forms for those who are interested
in learning more.
Thank you for your time ...
U.S. Bishops’ Statements on the Death Penalty
1974 U.S. Bishops vote overwhelmingly to oppose capital punishment in the
United States
1980 U.S. Catholic Bishops' Statement on Capital Punishment, November 1980
1999 Good Friday Appeal to End the Death Penalty, USCCB, 1999
2005 A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death, United States Conference of
Catholic Bishops, 2005
State Bishops Conference Statements
Florida 1972 Ohio 1996 Colorado 2001
Oregon 1984 Kentucky 1996 Florida 2002
Oklahoma 1983 Texas 1998 Minnesota 2003
New York 1994 lowa 1998 New Jersey 2005
New Mexico 1995 California 1999 Connecticut 2005
North Dakota 1995 Pennsylvania 2001 Missouri 2006
Wisconsin 1995 Massachusetts 2001 Florida 2009
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