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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

What We Do

As a grassroots movement to end the North Carolina death penalty, we are focused on building relationships, educating the public, and decreasing death sentences.

Building Relationships 

We prioritize getting to know one another and networking! We meet quarterly as a statewide coalition on Zoom and host in person and virtual events throughout the year. Currently, we host an Info Session and a Family Survivor Engagement Group which both meet monthly. Learn about upcoming meetings and events here. Sign up here to receive our monthly email newsletter. And follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram to stay up to date.

Educating the Public 

We believe the more people know about the death penalty, the less likely they are to support it. One of our primary educational organizing tools is Racist Roots. This comprehensive project, produced by our partners at The Center for Death Penalty Litigation, has now been distilled into a 25-minute video, which details the NC death penalty’s systemic racism. We facilitate Racist Roots screenings and panel discussion groups across the state. (Email to schedule a presentation.)

Decreasing Death Sentences

Until there is a more promising path to legislative repeal of the death penalty in North Carolina, we are actively working with Coalition partner organizations and local communities to decrease the number of people sentenced to death. We use a variety of tactics to engage North Carolinians to persuade elected officials to reduce death sentences. We recently completed our Commutation Campaign, which resulted in Governor Cooper commuting 15 death sentences to prison terms. We also maintain this website as a valuable resource for data, information, and compelling stories.

NCCADP is also supporting organizing efforts around the Racial Justice Act, which offers the possibility of broad relief through the courts. We also engage and educate communities about district attorneys and their role in the death penalty. Additionally, we offer resources and support for community organizations, leaders, and defense teams in pursuit of reducing the number of capital trials and removing people from death row. (See a map of the current status of the NC death penalty.)

Last Updated: January 17, 2025

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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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