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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're invited! We hope you'll join us on June 23 You're invited! We hope you'll join us on June 23 for a webinar featuring some of the top experts who have helped shape North Carolina's death penalty landscape over the past 2 decades.

For nearly 20 years, North Carolina has paused executions while courts, impacted families, and communities across the state have continued grappling with the realities of the death penalty system. What have these two decades revealed?

Featured speakers:
• Henderson Hill, Co-Director of RedressNC, civil rights and capital defense attorney
• Rep. Vernetta Alston, North Carolina Representative and former capital defense attorney
•  Alfred Rivera, North Carolina death row exoneree and activist
•  Dr. Seth Kotch, Associate Professor of American Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill, author of Lethal State: A History of the Death Penalty in North Carolina

Moderated by NCCADP Executive Director Noel Nickle.

💻 20 Years With No Executions: What Have We Learned? (Webinar)
📆 Tuesday, June 23, 12–1:15 PM
📍 Zoom
🔗 Register at bit.ly/nccadpwebinar or at the link in our bio

#NoMoreDeathRow #EndTheDeathPenalty #NorthCarolina #20YearsWithoutExecutions #20thAnniversary #FYP
We're delighted to share that Melissa Boughton (@m We're delighted to share that Melissa Boughton (@melbough) has stepped into a new role as Board Co-Chair of NCCADP, serving alongside Erica Washington (@erica_webber_).

Melissa brings a wealth of experience in communications and advocacy to this role. She currently serves as Communications Director at Southern Coalition for Social Justice and previously led communications at the Wilson Center for Science and Justice at Duke Law School. Before that, she spent more than a decade as a journalist covering courts, criminal legal issues, and some of the most consequential justice stories of our time.

Melissa has long been a valued leader within NCCADP. We're excited for this next chapter of her leadership and grateful for all she contributes to our movement.

We're equally thankful for Erica Washington's longstanding service as board Co-Chair!

As we welcome Melissa into this role, we also extend our deepest thanks to Jennifer Marsh for her years of service as Board Co-Chair. Jennifer's leadership has helped strengthen NCCADP and our movement in countless ways. We are grateful that she will continue serving on the board as Secretary through the end of the year.

Please join us in congratulating Melissa and thanking Jennifer for her leadership!

Photo 1: Melissa Boughton
Photo 2: Erica Washington
Photo 3: Jennifer Marsh

Learn more about our board members at https://nccadp.org/leadership/
📢 NEW COALITION PARTNERS 📢 Please join us in warm 📢 NEW COALITION PARTNERS 📢

Please join us in warmly welcoming NC NAACP (@ncnaacp1) and Deep Time (@deeptimeavl) to NCCADP!

During our spring coalition call, members unanimously voted both new partners into our movement. We're delighted to share that our coalition has now grown to 27 organizations.

The North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP works to “achieve equity, political rights, and social inclusion by advancing policies and practices that expand human and civil rights, eliminate discrimination, and accelerate the well-being, education, and economic security of Black people and all persons of color.” Their longstanding leadership in civil rights advocacy strengthens our shared work to challenge systems of injustice and build a more equitable future.

Deep Time is an Asheville-based coffee roaster and community space “celebrating, employing, and creating spiritual community with people impacted by incarceration.” Their work reflects the transformative possibilities of community-rooted reentry support.

Give these amazing organizations a follow if you haven't already!
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