The following is a list of people executed by the U.S. state of Virginia before 1972, when capital punishment was briefly abolished by the Supreme Court's ruling in Furman v. Georgia. For executions after the restoration of capital punishment by the Supreme Court's ruling in Gregg v. Georgia (1976), see List of people executed in Virginia.
Note: Cases in former counties that have since been absorbed by independent cities are listed under their present-day subdivision (ex. City of Virginia Beach for Princess Anne County).
Note: Executions under military authority during the Civil War, both Union and Confederate, are not listed here.
On March 6, 1908, the state senate passed a house bill replacing local hangings with centralized electrocution at the state penitentiary. The state's final hanging took place on April 9, 1909, when Joel Payne, a black man, was hanged for the murder of his father-in-law Reed Swaine in Bedford. However, William Turner was hanged in Henrico County on June 24, 1921, for a federal murder conviction as hanging was mandatory for all federal executions at the time. Virginia was the first Southern state to switch from hanging to electrocution.