Virginia becomes 23rd US state to abolish the death penalty

Virginia governor Ralph Northam, left, looks over the electric chair in the death chamber at Greensville Correctional Centre with Operations Director, George Hinkle, center, and Warden Larry Edmonds, right, prior to signing a bill abolishing the death penalty (Steve Heiber/AP)

The governor signed legislation to make Virginia the 23rd US state to abolish the death penalty, a dramatic shift for the commonwealth, which had the second-highest number of executions in the US.

The bills were the culmination of a years-long battle by Democrats who argued the death penalty has been applied disproportionately to people of colour, the mentally ill and the poor.