Dale M. Brumfield is an author, journalist, cultural archaeologist, and anti-death penalty advocate in central Virginia. In 2021, as field director for Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, he helped lead the charge to abolish capital punishment in Virginia. He chronicled this victory in his 2022 book, Closing the Slaughterhouse: The Inside Story of Death Penalty Abolition in Virginia. In addition to his 12 published books, his stories on criminal justice reform have appeared in numerous media, including USA Today, Richmond Magazine, Style Weekly, Medium, and many others. He received his Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2015.