Lawmakers are considering legislation to abolish the death penalty in Virginia.
Virginia would save about $3.8 million a year if lawmakers were to abolish the death penalty. That's according to a fiscal impact statement conducted for a bill now under consideration to end capital punishment in Virginia. Most of the savings would come from the 29 employees in four regional capital defender offices that would no longer be needed.
Delegate Mike Mullen is a Democrat from Newport News who introduced the bill.
"I don't want to ever talk about a human being's life or liberty in terms of money, but there certainly is something to be said for how extraordinarily expensive and time consuming the death penalty is compared to everything else that would be an alternative," Mullen explained. "It takes longer to go to trial, on average about a year and a half longer."
Delegate Rob Bell is a Republican from Charlottesville who says those cost savings need to be put into a larger context of other criminal justice reforms.
"Many of the advocates opposed to the death penalty have in other settings also advocated for the reinstitution of parole and expansion of the use of the pardon power," Bell said. "And so on the one hand they would say, 'Don't worry we've got these people covered; they'll never get out' at the same time are suggesting that the goal should be to get people out."
The bill abolishing the death penalty in Virginia is moving forward in both the House and the Senate, and Governor Ralph Northam has already said he'll sign the bill if it gets to his desk.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
