NC Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty

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

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We are hiring! NCCADP seeks a Director of Communications

Mar 11, 2025
NCCADP has experienced exciting growth and success in the last two years. On December 31st, we concluded a two-year commutations campaign that resulted in Gov. Roy Cooper commuting 15 death sentences. We seek a strong, creative leader and team player to build on this momentum. The ideal candidate will have a passion for criminal justice reform, exceptional communications skills, and at least three years of relevant experience.

We are hiring! NCCADP seeks a Director of Communications

· Kristin Collins

NCCADP has experienced exciting growth and success in the last two years. On December 31st, we concluded a two-year commutations campaign that resulted in Gov. Roy Cooper commuting 15 death sentences. We seek a strong, creative leader and team player to build on this momentum. The ideal candidate will have a passion for criminal justice reform, exceptional communications skills, and at least three years of relevant experience.

There’s no justice in a death sentence for my parents’ murder

Dec 27, 2022
We are often told that society must continue to seek the death penalty to get justice for the families of victims. In the years since my parents’ murders, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what justice means. Certainly, it’s not the same thing as revenge. And it could never be achieved through a death penalty that is inhumane, racist, and prone to errors. 

There’s no justice in a death sentence for my parents’ murder

· Kristin Collins

We are often told that society must continue to seek the death penalty to get justice for the families of victims. In the years since my parents’ murders, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what justice means. Certainly, it’s not the same thing as revenge. And it could never be achieved through a death penalty that is inhumane, racist, and prone to errors. 

Our Coalition’s request for Gov. Cooper: Commute all death sentences

Dec 6, 2022
December 6, 2022 The Honorable Roy CooperGovernor of North Carolina200 North Blount StreetRaleigh, NC 27601 Re: Commutation of North Carolina’s Death Row Dear Governor Cooper, We are attorneys, advocates, organizers, and people directly affected by North Carolina’s death penalty. Please accept this letter as the first of many discussions about the death penalty, which we […]

Our Coalition’s request for Gov. Cooper: Commute all death sentences

· Kristin Collins

December 6, 2022 The Honorable Roy CooperGovernor of North Carolina200 North Blount StreetRaleigh, NC 27601 Re: Commutation of North Carolina’s Death Row Dear Governor Cooper, We are attorneys, advocates, organizers, and people directly affected by North Carolina’s death penalty. Please accept this letter as the first of many discussions about the death penalty, which we […]

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.

Our community in action: Moving forward with hope on the 16th anniversary of NC’s last execution

Aug 18, 2022
Sixteen years ago today, North Carolina used its execution chamber for the last time. On August 18, 2006, Samuel Flippen was the last of 43 people executed under our modern laws. Shortly after his death, litigation put executions on hold indefinitely. All these years later, the death penalty remains on the books in North Carolina; […]

Our community in action: Moving forward with hope on the 16th anniversary of NC’s last execution

· Kristin Collins

Sixteen years ago today, North Carolina used its execution chamber for the last time. On August 18, 2006, Samuel Flippen was the last of 43 people executed under our modern laws. Shortly after his death, litigation put executions on hold indefinitely. All these years later, the death penalty remains on the books in North Carolina; […]

My client got two years of freedom after 36 years of wrongful incarceration; this does not mean the system works

Feb 9, 2022
Reposted with permission from NC Policy Watch I recently got some sad news. My former client, James Blackmon, died earlier this month from complications from COVID. He was 68. Mr. Blackmon was arrested for murder and, in 1988, pled guilty and received a life sentence. The problem was he had absolutely nothing to do with the crime. […]

My client got two years of freedom after 36 years of wrongful incarceration; this does not mean the system works

· Kristin Collins

Reposted with permission from NC Policy Watch I recently got some sad news. My former client, James Blackmon, died earlier this month from complications from COVID. He was 68. Mr. Blackmon was arrested for murder and, in 1988, pled guilty and received a life sentence. The problem was he had absolutely nothing to do with the crime. […]

A tribute to Gerda Stein: With empathy and commitment, she worked for justice

Jan 21, 2022
On January 21, one of North Carolina’s most dedicated advocates, Gerda Stein, will leave her long-time post as director of public information at the Center for Death Penalty Litigation. Here, CDPL’s Executive Director Gretchen M. Engel pays tribute to a colleague and friend who has left an indelible mark on our movement — and whose […]

A tribute to Gerda Stein: With empathy and commitment, she worked for justice

· Kristin Collins

On January 21, one of North Carolina’s most dedicated advocates, Gerda Stein, will leave her long-time post as director of public information at the Center for Death Penalty Litigation. Here, CDPL’s Executive Director Gretchen M. Engel pays tribute to a colleague and friend who has left an indelible mark on our movement — and whose […]

Mockery of Justice: Jury deciding fate of Ahmaud Arbery’s killers highlights a nation’s failure to prevent racist jury strikes

Nov 17, 2021
The law promises a “race-neutral” process for choosing juries. Yet, last week, the nation watched as a jury of eleven whites and just one Black person was seated to hear the case of the three white men accused of hunting down and killing Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man who was jogging through a residential neighborhood. […]

Mockery of Justice: Jury deciding fate of Ahmaud Arbery’s killers highlights a nation’s failure to prevent racist jury strikes

· Kristin Collins

The law promises a “race-neutral” process for choosing juries. Yet, last week, the nation watched as a jury of eleven whites and just one Black person was seated to hear the case of the three white men accused of hunting down and killing Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man who was jogging through a residential neighborhood. […]

Anniversary provides powerful reminder of racism that afflicts NC’s death penalty

Nov 17, 2021
Reposted from N.C. Policy Watch A few months ago, my former client Robert Bacon died in the hospital at Central Prison. Because of COVID-19, he died alone. His loving sister had only a video call with him a few weeks after medical staff stopped Robert’s cancer treatments. I’ve been thinking about Robert a lot lately, because […]

Anniversary provides powerful reminder of racism that afflicts NC’s death penalty

· Kristin Collins

Reposted from N.C. Policy Watch A few months ago, my former client Robert Bacon died in the hospital at Central Prison. Because of COVID-19, he died alone. His loving sister had only a video call with him a few weeks after medical staff stopped Robert’s cancer treatments. I’ve been thinking about Robert a lot lately, because […]

Newly discovered innocence cases show how old problems still haunt the N.C. death penalty

Mar 10, 2021
Last month, two new men were added to the list of innocent people who've been sentenced to death in North Carolina. Anthony Carey was sentenced to execution for a murder he took no part in, based entirely on the testimony of a 16-year-old who had made a deal with the police. The teen said that while he robbed and murdered a gas station attendant, Carey was a passenger in a getaway car parked blocks away. In exchange for that testimony, the prosecutor allowed the teen to plead guilty to second-degree murder while Carey went to death row.

Newly discovered innocence cases show how old problems still haunt the N.C. death penalty

· Kristin Collins

Last month, two new men were added to the list of innocent people who’ve been sentenced to death in North Carolina. Anthony Carey was sentenced to execution for a murder he took no part in, based entirely on the testimony of a 16-year-old who had made a deal with the police. The teen said that while he robbed and murdered a gas station attendant, Carey was a passenger in a getaway car parked blocks away. In exchange for that testimony, the prosecutor allowed the teen to plead guilty to second-degree murder while Carey went to death row.

Three More RJA Cases Decided: NC Supreme Court Removes Ms Walters, Mr Augustine, and Mr Golphin from Death Row

Sep 25, 2020
  On Friday, September 25th, 2020, Christina Walters, Quintel Augustine, and Tilmon Golphin were resentenced from death to life without parole. The North Carolina Supreme Court ruled that they had been unconstitutionally returned to death row after receiving life sentences under the state’s Racial Justice Act. The decisions in their cases are based on the […]

Three More RJA Cases Decided: NC Supreme Court Removes Ms Walters, Mr Augustine, and Mr Golphin from Death Row

· Emily Baxter

  On Friday, September 25th, 2020, Christina Walters, Quintel Augustine, and Tilmon Golphin were resentenced from death to life without parole. The North Carolina Supreme Court ruled that they had been unconstitutionally returned to death row after receiving life sentences under the state’s Racial Justice Act. The decisions in their cases are based on the […]

Colorado state capitol

Even amid the chaos of coronavirus, states still moving away from the death penalty

Mar 25, 2020
This week, some much-needed good news came out of Colorado. Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill ending the death penalty and commuting the sentences of the state’s three remaining death row prisoners. His signature made Colorado the tenth state since 2007 to decide that the death penalty isn’t necessary to maintain public safety and does more to perpetuate injustice than to ensure justice. Right now, with Covid-19 bearing down, most states and local governments are focusing on short-term efforts to cut jail populations and release some of the scores of people who are behind bars only because they can’t afford to pay bail. But Colorado has taken a step at the other end of the spectrum, joining a national movement away from the death penalty.

Even amid the chaos of coronavirus, states still moving away from the death penalty

· Kristin Collins

Colorado state capitol

This week, some much-needed good news came out of Colorado. Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill ending the death penalty and commuting the sentences of the state’s three remaining death row prisoners. His signature made Colorado the tenth state since 2007 to decide that the death penalty isn’t necessary to maintain public safety and does more to perpetuate injustice than to ensure justice. Right now, with Covid-19 bearing down, most states and local governments are focusing on short-term efforts to cut jail populations and release some of the scores of people who are behind bars only because they can’t afford to pay bail. But Colorado has taken a step at the other end of the spectrum, joining a national movement away from the death penalty.

Echoes of Central Park 5 in NC: Children were threatened with the execution chamber to force murder confessions; decades later, two remain in prison

Mar 19, 2020
The five boys were 14 and 15 years old when they were taken to the Winston-Salem police station. The cops wanted them to confess to the murder of Nathaniel Jones, a 61-year-old man who’d been beaten, robbed and left tied up on his carport, then died of a heart attack. The boys said they knew nothing about the crime. Detectives separated the children and interrogated them hour after hour, without lawyers or their parents there to help them. Police threatened them and told them that if they confessed, they’d be allowed to go home. One detective described the process of death by lethal injection. “Hold out your arm,” the armed officer said to the child. “That’s the vein.” 

Echoes of Central Park 5 in NC: Children were threatened with the execution chamber to force murder confessions; decades later, two remain in prison

· Kristin Collins

The five boys were 14 and 15 years old when they were taken to the Winston-Salem police station. The cops wanted them to confess to the murder of Nathaniel Jones, a 61-year-old man who’d been beaten, robbed and left tied up on his carport, then died of a heart attack. The boys said they knew nothing about the crime. Detectives separated the children and interrogated them hour after hour, without lawyers or their parents there to help them. Police threatened them and told them that if they confessed, they’d be allowed to go home. One detective described the process of death by lethal injection. “Hold out your arm,” the armed officer said to the child. “That’s the vein.” 

Wake DA Lorrin Freeman

Wake DA pursues death penalty even for people with severe mental illness

Feb 25, 2020
Since Freeman took office in 2014, Wake has sought the death penalty at trial more than any other North Carolina county. And in almost every case, the defendant has been a black man. Freeman would have voters believe she has no choice but to pursue the death penalty, but it’s simply not true. She’s making a conscious choice to put people with severe mental illness on trial for their lives, to fight to keep innocent people in prison, and to disproportionately seek the death penalty against people of color. The citizens of Wake County deserve better.

Wake DA pursues death penalty even for people with severe mental illness

· Kristin Collins

Wake DA Lorrin Freeman

Since Freeman took office in 2014, Wake has sought the death penalty at trial more than any other North Carolina county. And in almost every case, the defendant has been a black man. Freeman would have voters believe she has no choice but to pursue the death penalty, but it’s simply not true. She’s making a conscious choice to put people with severe mental illness on trial for their lives, to fight to keep innocent people in prison, and to disproportionately seek the death penalty against people of color. The citizens of Wake County deserve better.

CDPL Attorney Elizabeth Hambourger

NC case shines rare light on sexism in death penalty jury selection

Oct 9, 2019
Until the middle of the 20th century, the law barred women from jury service. The myth was that women are weak and overly emotional, not rational enough to serve on juries. A brief filed in late September in a North Carolina death penalty case shines a rare light on the persistence of sexist stereotypes in the legal system. Bryan Bell was sentenced to death in Sampson County in 2001. A woman was rejected from his jury because the prosecutor was looking for "strong male" jurors.

NC case shines rare light on sexism in death penalty jury selection

· Kristin Collins

CDPL Attorney Elizabeth Hambourger

Until the middle of the 20th century, the law barred women from jury service. The myth was that women are weak and overly emotional, not rational enough to serve on juries. A brief filed in late September in a North Carolina death penalty case shines a rare light on the persistence of sexist stereotypes in the legal system. Bryan Bell was sentenced to death in Sampson County in 2001. A woman was rejected from his jury because the prosecutor was looking for “strong male” jurors.

A history-making day in the North Carolina Supreme Court

Sep 12, 2019
At the end of August, our movement made history. A group of talented attorneys from across the state and the nation argued before the North Carolina Supreme Court. At issue were the cases of six men and women on death row who have uncovered compelling proof that their sentences were poisoned by racial discrimination. All […]

A history-making day in the North Carolina Supreme Court

· Kristin Collins

At the end of August, our movement made history. A group of talented attorneys from across the state and the nation argued before the North Carolina Supreme Court. At issue were the cases of six men and women on death row who have uncovered compelling proof that their sentences were poisoned by racial discrimination. All […]