Death Penalty Opponents Lobby for Lawmaker Moratorium on Executions

Raleigh, N.C. — With the future of the death penalty in limbo in North Carolina, opponents are speaking out in hopes that lawmakers will listen to their concerns about capital punishment.

The courts have temporarily stayed executions while legal conflicts about how it is performed can be worked out. The issue of race has now become an important part of the ongoing debate.

Studies show that an assailant who kills a white person is more likely to be sentenced to death in North Carolina than if they killed a black person. A forum that met Monday in Raleigh said that is just one more reason the death penalty should be stopped.

“Race makes a big difference in who lives or dies and that should not be a factor at all,” said Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree.

During the forum sponsored by N.C. Policy Watch, participants talked about the role race places in how the death penalty is applied.

“Race made a difference where it shouldn't have, where those who killed white victims were more likely to get capital punishment than those who killed blacks,” said Jack Boger, dean of the University of North Carolina School of Law.

John Hood is the director of the John Locke Foundation, a conservative political think tank in Raleigh. He said that North Carolinians favor the death penalty.

“(Opponents) want to abolish the death penalty because they think it's wrong,” Hood said. “They don't want to abolish the death penalty because they think it's racially unjust.”

Ultimately, it will be up to the courts and the General Assembly to decide what happens to the use of capital punishment in the state. And while there is growing support among state lawmakers for a moratorium, the conventional wisdom is that the issue will not be raised this session unless the votes are there to make it happen.

Rep. Deborah Ross, D-Wake said if a handful of lawmakers put their necks out and the moratorium doesn't pass, their actions could end up hurting them at election time.

“The tendency is to not bring it up unless you know it's going to pass,” Ross said.

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Latest Comments

More people are aborted each year without due process or any input from the father that have been executed in the history of executions in the u.s.

twright530
March 5, 2007 11:04 a.m.

this is a very tough debate, but i am for the death penalty. i am more of an "eye for an eye" type of a person. they do something horrible to another human, we do it back to them. but then opponents will say "that makes us no better than them!" now people are saying that it is racially unjustified? in response to lulli: they said that more people who did a crime against a white person were put to death vs. people who did a crime against a black person. they didn't mention how many blacks vs. whites were on death row. they were saying that currently, our justice system punishes people more severely if they commit a crime against a white person vs. one against a black person. that is wrong, justice is supposed to be blind. but at the same time i don't think that is a valid argument to stop the death penalty.

sasuke
March 1, 2007 7:27 a.m.

Die die die, kill kill kill America is sick! When will the sanctioning of death and destruction stop being promoted by our local and federal gov'ts??

Ladidada
February 28, 2007 10:44 p.m.

What has color got to do with anything? If there are more blacks on death row, then more blacks must be committing crimes punishable by death! Get real people. No one sets out to put any human in this position. We, the people, are not doing this. The sadistic hardened criminals of today's culture are doing this to themselves! Black . . White . . Pink Polka Dot . . . You do the CRIME you do the TIME! Why should we show any mercy to these animals? What mercy have they shown their victims? Makes me want to BARF!!!!! Behave yourself and there won't be any problem!!! Simple enough, I say!!!