New Virginia Governor Will Expand the Death Penalty

Since taking office in 2006, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine has vetoed 15 bills expanding the state's death penalty. The next governor has another idea.

Republican Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell (left), who takes office January 16, says he will sign into law the expansions that lawmakers have supported in recent years, particularly a provision that would make accomplices eligible for the death penalty.

McDonnell's commitment to expanding executions won't lead to many new death sentences, but it's sad to see a new governor bucking a trend and expanding the death penalty. Aside from this news, there have been signs that even Virginia, usually a death penalty diehard,  would see a slowdown of executions. Although four people were executed in Virginia in 2009 (second only to Texas, which executed 18 people), Virginian juries handed down just one new death sentence this year. That's a start.

The momentum on capital punishment is clearly going in the opposite direction of McDonnell. I wrote this week about six states that could repeal the death penalty in the next two years. A recent study found that North Carolina could save $11 million a year if it repealed the death penalty. Show that study to some of McDonnell's unemployed constituents and they might no longer love the growing reach (and cost) of capital punishment in their state.

As we greet a new decade, new Gov. McDonnell is already heading in the wrong direction on capital punishment. Let's hope he's listening.