 Lewis' execution started a debate in the U.S. and other parts of the world concerning capital punishment, and more specifically the application of death sentences on women in murder cases.Richard Dieter, executive of the Death Penalty Information Center, argued that "so few women are involved in more heinous murders that, when they are, they cause greater offense than if they had been men.Virginia's attorney general really pushed the fact that she had committed adultery with a co-defendant and that she was somehow dishonored and should be looked down upon".