NC Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty

Committed to ending the death penalty and creating a new vision of justice

Abolition

The Legacy of Gregg v. Georgia in North Carolina

Jul 2, 2026
In the 1972 case Furman v. Georgia, the Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional, violating the Eighth Amendment prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment due to the death penalty’s arbitrary and discriminatory application. This ruling halted executions until 1976, when in Gregg v. Georgia, the Court sanctioned the death penalty so long as states established […]

The Legacy of Gregg v. Georgia in North Carolina

· Sofi Zuber

In the 1972 case Furman v. Georgia, the Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional, violating the Eighth Amendment prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment due to the death penalty’s arbitrary and discriminatory application. This ruling halted executions until 1976, when in Gregg v. Georgia, the Court sanctioned the death penalty so long as states established […]

Press Release: As Capital Cases Move Forward Under HB 307, NCCADP Examines North Carolina’s 20 Years Without Executions

Jun 22, 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 22, 2026 Contact: Liv Perkins-Davenport, Director of Communications and Development, (919) 404-7409 RALEIGH, N.C. – As North Carolina officials take new steps toward restarting executions after nearly two decades, the North Carolina Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (NCCADP) will host a public webinar examining what the state has learned […]

Press Release: As Capital Cases Move Forward Under HB 307, NCCADP Examines North Carolina’s 20 Years Without Executions

· Liv Perkins-Davenport

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 22, 2026 Contact: Liv Perkins-Davenport, Director of Communications and Development, (919) 404-7409 RALEIGH, N.C. – As North Carolina officials take new steps toward restarting executions after nearly two decades, the North Carolina Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (NCCADP) will host a public webinar examining what the state has learned […]

What Comes After Harm? Inside a Day of Restorative Justice

May 6, 2026
On April 25, community members from across North Carolina gathered at Peace Haven Baptist Church in Winston-Salem for Returning to the Circle, a day focused on restorative justice and collective healing. More than thirty people joined, many with deep ties to the former Capital Restorative Justice Project. Though that effort concluded several years ago, its […]

What Comes After Harm? Inside a Day of Restorative Justice

· Liv Perkins-Davenport

On April 25, community members from across North Carolina gathered at Peace Haven Baptist Church in Winston-Salem for Returning to the Circle, a day focused on restorative justice and collective healing. More than thirty people joined, many with deep ties to the former Capital Restorative Justice Project. Though that effort concluded several years ago, its […]

2025 Impact Report

Feb 4, 2026
The NC Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty is proud to share our first-ever impact report, reflecting on a pivotal year for North Carolina’s death penalty abolition movement. From the triumph of 15 lives saved at the end of our Commutations Campaign to repeated legislative efforts to bring back state killing after nearly 20 […]

2025 Impact Report

· Liv Perkins-Davenport

The NC Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty is proud to share our first-ever impact report, reflecting on a pivotal year for North Carolina’s death penalty abolition movement. From the triumph of 15 lives saved at the end of our Commutations Campaign to repeated legislative efforts to bring back state killing after nearly 20 […]

When Our Voices Rise Together

Nov 26, 2025
Last Saturday I had the extraordinary experience of singing for two hours in a church basement with more than a hundred people, nearly all of whom I did not know. We had no music to read and were accompanied by only a single hand drum, and yet we layered multiple lines of beautiful harmony. With […]

When Our Voices Rise Together

· Noel Nickle

Last Saturday I had the extraordinary experience of singing for two hours in a church basement with more than a hundred people, nearly all of whom I did not know. We had no music to read and were accompanied by only a single hand drum, and yet we layered multiple lines of beautiful harmony. With […]

The Forgotten Veterans on North Carolina’s Death Row

Nov 11, 2025
Each November, America honors those who served in the armed forces. We speak of courage and sacrifice, of the price of freedom and the duty of remembrance. But in North Carolina, many of those same veterans sit on death row, waiting for the state to decide when they will die. Veterans and the Death Penalty […]

The Forgotten Veterans on North Carolina’s Death Row

· Liv Perkins-Davenport

Each November, America honors those who served in the armed forces. We speak of courage and sacrifice, of the price of freedom and the duty of remembrance. But in North Carolina, many of those same veterans sit on death row, waiting for the state to decide when they will die. Veterans and the Death Penalty […]

The Death Penalty Protects No One: Gathering for Healing, Justice, and Hope

Oct 16, 2025
On a golden October afternoon in Asheville, community members gathered for “The Death Penalty Protects No One: What We Need Instead,” a World Day Against the Death Penalty event hosted by NCCADP.  The gathering came just one week after Governor Josh Stein signed HB 307, a law that seeks to restart executions and expand execution […]

The Death Penalty Protects No One: Gathering for Healing, Justice, and Hope

· Liv Perkins-Davenport

On a golden October afternoon in Asheville, community members gathered for “The Death Penalty Protects No One: What We Need Instead,” a World Day Against the Death Penalty event hosted by NCCADP.  The gathering came just one week after Governor Josh Stein signed HB 307, a law that seeks to restart executions and expand execution […]

At the Gates of Central Prison: The Vigil That Will Not End

Sep 19, 2025
Every Monday evening, advocates gather at the gates of Central Prison in Raleigh to deliver the same message: North Carolina does not need the death penalty. They’ve been saying it for over 20 years. For an hour each week, these protestors hold signs, wave at cars, and stand witness for those on death row. There […]

At the Gates of Central Prison: The Vigil That Will Not End

· Liv Perkins-Davenport

Every Monday evening, advocates gather at the gates of Central Prison in Raleigh to deliver the same message: North Carolina does not need the death penalty. They’ve been saying it for over 20 years. For an hour each week, these protestors hold signs, wave at cars, and stand witness for those on death row. There […]

Watch Racist Roots & help us make the death penalty history!

Nov 17, 2022
You may think that watching a video doesn't make a difference in the world. But we’re here to tell you that it does. At more than two dozen screenings, we’ve seen this film’s power to educate and move people to action. It’s a key part of our work to organize a public movement to end the North Carolina death penalty. If it spreads far and wide, it will lead to change.

Watch Racist Roots & help us make the death penalty history!

· Kristin Collins

You may think that watching a video doesn’t make a difference in the world. But we’re here to tell you that it does. At more than two dozen screenings, we’ve seen this film’s power to educate and move people to action. It’s a key part of our work to organize a public movement to end the North Carolina death penalty. If it spreads far and wide, it will lead to change.

CDPL Attorney Elizabeth Hambourger

Virginia just abolished its deeply racist death penalty; North Carolina must follow suit

Apr 7, 2021
This piece is reposted from N.C. Policy Watch. By Elizabeth Hambourger “This is, as we know, a historic day for Virginia. We are the first Southern state to abolish capital punishment, but we will not be the last.” — Jayne Barnard, Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, March 24, 2021 This week, Virginia became […]

Virginia just abolished its deeply racist death penalty; North Carolina must follow suit

· Kristin Collins

CDPL Attorney Elizabeth Hambourger

This piece is reposted from N.C. Policy Watch. By Elizabeth Hambourger “This is, as we know, a historic day for Virginia. We are the first Southern state to abolish capital punishment, but we will not be the last.” — Jayne Barnard, Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, March 24, 2021 This week, Virginia became […]

NC death row

In the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, let’s deem the death penalty nonessential work

Apr 1, 2020
In the midst of a Coronavirus pandemic, society is forced to decide which work is essential. Across the United States, that question is now being applied to countless enterprises — including the death penalty. Is it essential for states to kill people? Eighteen executions are scheduled between now and the end of the year in Texas, Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee. Countless death penalty trials are also planned across the country, including in North Carolina. The courts are likely to call most or all of them off because, right now, if our society wants to kill, we must risk harming innocent people too. That has always been true, but the Coronavirus allows us to see and feel that risk more concretely.

In the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, let’s deem the death penalty nonessential work

· Kristin Collins

NC death row

In the midst of a Coronavirus pandemic, society is forced to decide which work is essential. Across the United States, that question is now being applied to countless enterprises — including the death penalty. Is it essential for states to kill people? Eighteen executions are scheduled between now and the end of the year in Texas, Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee. Countless death penalty trials are also planned across the country, including in North Carolina. The courts are likely to call most or all of them off because, right now, if our society wants to kill, we must risk harming innocent people too. That has always been true, but the Coronavirus allows us to see and feel that risk more concretely.

In California, the moral case for ending the death penalty

Mar 14, 2019
In today’s world, it’s easy to think politicians on both sides of the aisle care only about their own power and reelection chances. But every once in a while, we see an act of moral leadership that renews our faith in government. This week, it happened in California. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that he would dismantle the death chamber and grant the state’s nearly 750 death row inmates a reprieve. They will remain incarcerated but will no longer live under the threat of execution. It was a stunning move in a state with the nation’s largest death row. North Carolina, too, should make the enlightened choice to put an official end to the death penalty.

In California, the moral case for ending the death penalty

· Kristin Collins

In today’s world, it’s easy to think politicians on both sides of the aisle care only about their own power and reelection chances. But every once in a while, we see an act of moral leadership that renews our faith in government. This week, it happened in California. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that he would dismantle the death chamber and grant the state’s nearly 750 death row inmates a reprieve. They will remain incarcerated but will no longer live under the threat of execution. It was a stunning move in a state with the nation’s largest death row. North Carolina, too, should make the enlightened choice to put an official end to the death penalty.

A young Nathan Bowie, age 4, smiling on a building's front stoop, in Philadelphia

NC, let’s take a hint from Washington: It’s time to end the racist death penalty

Oct 16, 2018
Last week, Washington became the 20th state to end the death penalty after its Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment is arbitrary and racially biased. If those are reasons to outlaw the death penalty, then it is surely time for the North Carolina death penalty to go. If anything, the death penalty in NC is more racist, more arbitrary, and threatens the lives of far more people.

NC, let’s take a hint from Washington: It’s time to end the racist death penalty

· Kristin Collins

A young Nathan Bowie, age 4, smiling on a building's front stoop, in Philadelphia

Last week, Washington became the 20th state to end the death penalty after its Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment is arbitrary and racially biased. If those are reasons to outlaw the death penalty, then it is surely time for the North Carolina death penalty to go. If anything, the death penalty in NC is more racist, more arbitrary, and threatens the lives of far more people.