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For North Carolina, Arkansas executions are a call to action
Not long ago, Arkansas was much like North Carolina. It hadn’t executed a death row inmate in more than a decade, and the death penalty appeared to be quietly fading away. How quickly things change. Today, Arkansas is fresh off four executions carried out in the space of eight days. The message to North Carolina is we cannot afford to become complacent. It’s up to us to make sure North Carolina doesn’t become the next Arkansas.
Why North Carolina’s death penalty is not for the “worst of the worst”
Prosecutors might tell you they need the death penalty to punish the “worst of the worst.” But in practice, that’s not how the death penalty is used in North Carolina. Our state spends millions each year to pursue death sentences that are arbitrary and unnecessary, and uses the threat of death as a negotiation tactic to pressure defendants to accept plea bargains — sometimes putting innocent lives on the line.
Current Status of North Carolina’s Death Penalty
Approximately 150 people are on North Carolina’s death row. However, no one has been executed since 2006, when concerns about the state’s lethal injection procedure led to an effective moratorium. Since then, four innocent men have been released from death row, the State Bureau of Investigation admitted to falsifying evidence in dozens of trials, and a judge found evidence of statewide racial bias in the use of the death penalty. Due to pending litigation about racial bias and lethal injection, executions remain on hold indefinitely.
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