By Paul O’Shea: For the first time in Virginia’s history, capital punishment, a grim and tragic legacy, may finally be abolished. That was the theme of the recent annual awards luncheon of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (VADP). Currently, with a Democratically-controlled Virginia General Assembly and growing support from conservatives and libertarians, death penalty abolition legislation could be…
By Paul O’Shea: Abolishing the death penalty is usually thought of as a Democratic and liberal policy, but a Republican and a libertarian serve proudly alongside their progressive colleagues on the board of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. The death penalty is nonpartisan. It distributes its malevolent effects—racism, random selection, executing the innocent or the severe mentally ill–across…
By Paul O’Shea: A leading figure in the Virginia anti-death penalty movement called for the abolition of “this barbaric remnant of previous centuries” in a talk recently at Little River United Church of Christ in Annandale. Dale Brumfield, field director of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, told parishioners on Feb. 23 that the death penalty fails to serve…
By Paul O’Shea: The leader of New Hampshire’s successful drive to abolish the death penalty – making it the 21st state to do so — will deliver the keynote at the annual luncheon of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (VADP) in Reston on Oct. 5. Renny Cushing is a state legislator in New Hampshire whose work as a…
By Paul O’Shea: Following recent passage in the state Senate of a bill to ban the death penalty for criminal defendants with severe mental illness, northern Virginia welcomes a leading proponent of a national movement against the death penalty on March 24th. Mike Farrell, founder and president of Death Penalty Focus, will keynote the annual awards luncheon of Virginians for…
By Paul O’Shea: The last person executed in Virginia was mentally ill. Yet Virginia, which has executed more people than any state except Texas, has no law protecting the mentally disabled from capital punishment. It’s time to change that. When Virginia completed the task of executing William Morva at 9:15 p.m. on July 6, 2017, it had killed a disturbed…