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NC Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty

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

  • Who We Are
    • Mission & History
    • Our Values
    • People Most Proximate
    • Coalition Members
    • Staff, Board, & Advisory Council
    • Our Funders
  • What We Do
    • Commutations Campaign
  • Why End the Death Penalty?
    • Column 1
      • Racism
      • Innocence
      • Intellectual Disability & Mental Illness
    • Column 2
      • Public Safety
      • High Cost of Death
      • Waning Support
    • Column 3
      • Lethal Injection
      • Antiquated Sentences
      • Unfair Trials
  • Events
  • 20 Years With No Executions
  • Blog
  • The Pledge
  • Get Involved
  • Donate

Search NC Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty

Partner Spotlights

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 […]

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

September 19, 2025 · 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 […]

Filed Under: Abolition, Blog, Declining Support, Partner Spotlights, Stories Tagged With: Mass Incarceration, North Carolina Death Penalty, Partner Event, Racial Justice

Nathan Bowie and his father smiling, arms around each other

Why most of N.C.’s death row inmates never should have gotten the death penalty

Oct 9, 2018
After 12 years without an execution, many people believe the North Carolina death penalty is dead. That might be true — if it weren’t for the more than 140 people still on death row. A new report shows that, by today's standards, most of them shouldn't be there.

Why most of N.C.’s death row inmates never should have gotten the death penalty

October 9, 2018 · Kristin Collins

Nathan Bowie and his father smiling, arms around each other
Nathan Bowie and his father smiling, arms around each other

After 12 years without an execution, many people believe the North Carolina death penalty is dead. That might be true — if it weren’t for the more than 140 people still on death row. A new report shows that, by today’s standards, most of them shouldn’t be there.

Filed Under: Arbitrary Use, Declining Use, False Evidence, Innocence, Latest News, Laws have Changed, but Sentences Remain Unexamined, Mental Disabilities, Partner Spotlights, Public Opinion, Stories

Attorney Elizabeth Hambourger and Blaize the Poet embrace after an emotional reading at Poetic Justice. They're both smiling and hugging, cheek to cheek.

Remaining human in the face of an inhumane death penalty system

Oct 3, 2018
It's hard to describe what it feels like to be a capital defense attorney. To be responsible for saving the lives of people who've committed terrible crimes, and sometimes, to be forced to watch them die. In this video, Elizabeth Hambourger, a staff attorney at the Center for Death Penalty Litigation, explains in moving and personal terms what it's like to do this most difficult of jobs.

Remaining human in the face of an inhumane death penalty system

October 3, 2018 · Kristin Collins

Attorney Elizabeth Hambourger and Blaize the Poet embrace after an emotional reading at Poetic Justice. They're both smiling and hugging, cheek to cheek.
Attorney Elizabeth Hambourger and Blaize the Poet embrace after an emotional reading at Poetic Justice. They're both smiling and hugging, cheek to cheek.

It’s hard to describe what it feels like to be a capital defense attorney. To be responsible for saving the lives of people who’ve committed terrible crimes, and sometimes, to be forced to watch them die. In this video, Elizabeth Hambourger, a staff attorney at the Center for Death Penalty Litigation, explains in moving and personal terms what it’s like to do this most difficult of jobs.

Filed Under: Latest News, Partner Spotlights, Why We Care

“Fearless & relentless” — Ken Rose retires after 35 years on death penalty’s front lines

Jan 11, 2017
Ken retired in 2017 from the Center for Death Penalty Litigation, where he earned his reputation as one of North Carolina’s most respected and visionary death penalty attorneys. Through 35 years of fighting the N.C. death penalty, Ken never lost the idealism or the passion that has driven him since his earliest days. He never stopped being surprised — and outraged — at injustice. And he never stopped plotting to outwit the machinery of death.

“Fearless & relentless” — Ken Rose retires after 35 years on death penalty’s front lines

January 11, 2017 · Kristin Collins

Ken retired in 2017 from the Center for Death Penalty Litigation, where he earned his reputation as one of North Carolina’s most respected and visionary death penalty attorneys. Through 35 years of fighting the N.C. death penalty, Ken never lost the idealism or the passion that has driven him since his earliest days. He never stopped being surprised — and outraged — at injustice. And he never stopped plotting to outwit the machinery of death.

Filed Under: Latest News, Partner Spotlights

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Contact

NCCADP Alternate Logo
NCCADP
3326 Durham-Chapel Hill Blvd.
Building D, Suite 201
Durham, NC 27707
noel@nccadp.org
919-404-7409

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You are warmly invited to join the NC Coalition fo You are warmly invited to join the NC Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty for a screening of Racist Roots, a 25-minute film that uncovers the deep entanglement between white supremacy, racial terror lynching, and North Carolina's death penalty.

Following the film, hear from Niconda Garcia, the founder of Change the Rubric, whose life has been shaped by having a close relationship with someone on death row and losing a family member to homicide.

This event is free and open to the public. Racist Roots is a project of the Center for Death Penalty Litigation.

Where: Asheville Friends Meeting, Second Hour Program, 227 Edgewood Rd, Asheville, NC 28804
When: Sunday, July 19, 12–1:30 PM

Register at bit.ly/AshevilleFriendsRR
Get mobilized! Join us this evening over Zoom for Get mobilized! Join us this evening over Zoom for Death Penalty 101. You'll learn about North Carolina's capital punishment system, NCCADP's work to end it, and how to get involved in the abolition movement. We hope to see you there! 

What: Death Penalty 101 Information Session
When: Monday, June 29, 7–8 PM
Where: Register for the Zoom link at bit.ly/NCCADPJune2026 or at the link in our bio
Come on out to Durham Central Park this evening, J Come on out to Durham Central Park this evening, June 26th, from 4–8 PM for ACLU of North Carolina's Interdependence Day event! We'll be there – come say hi! 

Interdependence Day is a people-powered evening of art, action, and community. Come do something. Come make something. Come meet your people. 

Learn more at the link in our bio.
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