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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

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Our call for NC death row commutations is heard around the world

November 8, 2023

We recently got exciting confirmation that our call for Gov. Cooper to commute all of NC’s death sentences is being heard not just in the streets of Raleigh but across the world. In early November, diplomats from the European Union, Switzerland, and Norway (pictured above) visited North Carolina to add their support to our ongoing work to ensure that executions are never again carried out in our state.

Over three days, the 13-member delegation of representatives from across Europe held a series of private meetings with stakeholders including the Governor’s Office and other elected officials. They also met with some of our Coalition’s committed partners, including the founders of Catholics for Abolition in NC and members of NCCADP’s Family Survivor Engagement Group who have lost loved ones to violence. 

North Carolina State Representative and NCCADP Board Member Vernetta Alston
Deacon Josh Klickman of the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh and Nancy Jones of Catholics for Abolition NC
North Carolina State Senator Julie Mayfield and delegate Andy Pachtenbeke
A group of delegates, along with Ali Cain, Human Rights Advisor for the EU’s Delegation to the U.S, with Representative Alston and Senator Mayfield
Senator Mayfield speaks with some of the delegates

They also co-hosted a public screening of the film Love Lived on Death Row, a powerful documentary about the execution of Elias Syriani, at the Duke Human Rights Center. This film is a wrenching testament to the cruelty of executions, and afterward, we were privileged to hear from Mr. Syriani’s attorney, Henderson Hill, and his close friend and penpal, Meg Eggleston. If you haven’t seen the film yet, click the link. It will bring you fresh energy to end the inhumane death penalty. (Read Meg Eggleston’s recent op-ed about the execution here.)

Delegate and panelist Andy Pachtenbeke speaks at the Love Lived on Death Row screening at Duke
Love Lived on Death Row tells the heartbreaking story of Elias Syriani
Panelists seated from left to right: EU delegate Andy Pachtenbeke, Meg Eggleston, and Henderson Hill
Corin Zaragosa, Program Coordinator for the Duke Human Rights Center, opened the event with a warm welcome

European Union representatives say supporting efforts to stop executions is part of their mission to promote human rights around the world. All 27 EU member states abolished the death penalty decades ago, and today they have far lower rates of violent crime than in the U.S. They also have vastly lower incarceration rates. 

As European Union Ambassador to the U.S. Stavros Lambrinidis said, “We have seen in practice that the death penalty doesn’t promote public safety and that, where applied, inevitably also results in the execution of innocent people – a moral injustice that no democracy can tolerate. As America’s strongest allies, we respectfully ask Governor Cooper to exercise his powerful moral and political leadership to commute the sentences of death row inmates in North Carolina to prison terms.”

The death penalty is a failed public policy that does nothing to keep North Carolina safe. We hope Gov. Cooper will look to the example of Europe, along with many U.S. states, and help our state let go of a punishment that is nothing more than a racist relic.

Filed Under: Blog, Commutations Campaign

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NCCADP
3326 Durham-Chapel Hill Blvd.
Building D, Suite 201
Durham, NC 27707
noel@nccadp.org
919-956-9545

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Join us online on Tuesday, May 14th at 7 pm for an Join us online on Tuesday, May 14th at 7 pm for an hour-long online conversation to learn more about the state of the death penalty in North Carolina, the work of NCCADP, and how you can get involved. If you want to volunteer or simply connect with others across the state interested in abolishing the death penalty, this is the place to start. If you're new to NCCADP we ask that you attend this info session prior to registering for our quarterly statewide meeting on May 20th. Register for the Info Session at bit.ly/May2025InfoSession or use the link in our bio. We look forward to seeing you next week!
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BREAKING: House Bill 270: Death Penalty Expansion BREAKING: House Bill 270: Death Penalty Expansion has been defeated! We did it! YOU sent hundreds of letters to legislators - thank you! Also, gratitude to our Coalition partners who offered strategic and communications support throughout the last two weeks. Go to our latest blog (link in bio) to read the media release that went out this morning. @scsjofficial @aclu_nc @ncsecondchancealliance @ncjusticecenter @ncchurches @forwardjustice
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