Death sentence more likely to be executed in Virginia

According to this article in the Richmond paper, persons sentenced to death in Virginia are more likely to be put to death.

The article notes the following:

"From 1977 through 2001, some 136 prisoners were sent to the state's death row. As of the end of 2001, 83 of them - 61 percent - had been put to death. Since then, six more have been executed, and at least five more sent to death row.

There is no close second. Missouri executed 32 percent, and Texas and Delaware each executed 28 percent of their death-row inmates during the same period, according to an analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Virginia has executed such a large percentage of its condemned inmates that its death row population went from more than 60 inmates to 27. It now has one of the smallest death rows in the country, and its inmates have been on death row an average of 2.8 years - the shortest stay of any state."