Democratic Sen. Scott Surovell is again sponsoring a bill that would abolish the death penalty, and he has a Republican chief co-patron.
(Virginia Department of Corrections via AP, File)RICHMOND, Va. – Virginia moved another step closer to ending capital punishment on Friday when the state House joined the Senate in voting to abolish the death penalty.
Democrats favoring abolishment said the death penalty is an archaic punishment in an era when many countries have already moved away from the practice, and too costly to implement, given the litigation involved.
In modern times, Virginia trails only Texas in the number of executions since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.
Last year, death penalty abolition bills in the General Assembly went nowhere.