Virginia may abolish the death penalty. There’s a racist history behind why a few jurisdictions use it most.
Frank R. Baumgartner, Christian Caron
A death penalty opponent demonstrates outside the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind., on Jan. 15. (Bryan Woolston/Reuters)
Virginia may be aboutto eliminate the death penalty, which would remove the state with the greatest historical use of the punishment from the execution business. Simultaneously, President Biden is the first sitting president to openly oppose capital punishment. Dozens of lawmakers have urged him to commute the death sentences of all those on federal death row.
Our recent research offers some useful insights for those considering whether Virginia or the federal government will retain their death penalty systems. Public opinion has shifted dramatically since the 1990s. Since 1973, 174 innocent men have been released from death row, which has shaken public confidence in the system. Today, few jurisdictions use the penalty. The counties most likely to condemn someone to death also had higher per capita numbers of lynchings in the Jim Crow era and have a higher Black population today than those counties that have made little or no use of the death penalty.