NC Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty

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

Criminal Justice Reform

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 […]

James Ferguson II on the meaning, impact and promise of the Racial Justice Act

Jun 17, 2020
  This article was originally published on June 17, 2020 in the NC Policy Watch. When I was a young Black lawyer in the late 1960’s and 1970’s, there was an unwritten rule in North Carolina’s courtrooms: Though race shaped every aspect of the criminal punishment system, we were not to mention it, let alone […]

James Ferguson II on the meaning, impact and promise of the Racial Justice Act

· Emily Baxter

  This article was originally published on June 17, 2020 in the NC Policy Watch. When I was a young Black lawyer in the late 1960’s and 1970’s, there was an unwritten rule in North Carolina’s courtrooms: Though race shaped every aspect of the criminal punishment system, we were not to mention it, let alone […]

After hate-filled murders in N.C., choosing a legacy of love and light over the darkness of the death penalty

Apr 12, 2019
The families of Deah Barakat, Yusor Abu-Salha, and Razan Abu-Salha lost their children in a terrible and senseless crime that terrorized the entire Muslim community. Still, they have chosen the path of light and love. They opened a community center for young Muslim people in a house that Barakat once owned. They started an annual interfaith food drive in the victims’ honor. And this week they supported the Durham DA's decision not to pursue the death penalty at their killer's trial.

After hate-filled murders in N.C., choosing a legacy of love and light over the darkness of the death penalty

· Kristin Collins

The families of Deah Barakat, Yusor Abu-Salha, and Razan Abu-Salha lost their children in a terrible and senseless crime that terrorized the entire Muslim community. Still, they have chosen the path of light and love. They opened a community center for young Muslim people in a house that Barakat once owned. They started an annual interfaith food drive in the victims’ honor. And this week they supported the Durham DA’s decision not to pursue the death penalty at their killer’s trial.

Just like the death penalty, sentencing kids to die in prison is cruel and unusual

Feb 25, 2019
In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional to sentence children to death. (Better late than never!) The decision cited research showing that human brains continue to grow and aren’t fully formed until people are in their early 20s, and that our character and ability to make reasoned decisions is still developing. Given that, it’s unbelievable that North Carolina, and 28 other states, continue to impose a punishment almost as harsh on kids — life with no possibility of parole. Think about that: Still today, a 13-year-old can be declared “irredeemable” and sent to prison with no chance of ever getting out.

Just like the death penalty, sentencing kids to die in prison is cruel and unusual

· Kristin Collins

In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional to sentence children to death. (Better late than never!) The decision cited research showing that human brains continue to grow and aren’t fully formed until people are in their early 20s, and that our character and ability to make reasoned decisions is still developing. Given that, it’s unbelievable that North Carolina, and 28 other states, continue to impose a punishment almost as harsh on kids — life with no possibility of parole. Think about that: Still today, a 13-year-old can be declared “irredeemable” and sent to prison with no chance of ever getting out.