Public Support for a Moratorium in North Carolina
North Carolinians want a fair and reliable criminal justice system, especially when the punishment is the ultimate one – the death penalty. Serious documented flaws in the state’s capital punishment system have prompted a broad cross-section of individuals, organizations and newspapers to support a two-year moratorium on executions while the system is reviewed.
More than 1,000 businesses, congregations, civic groups and organizations, and more than 40,000 North Carolinians have signed moratorium petitions. The NC Senate passed legislation that provides for the two-year halt and review.
That legislation is now before the NC House.
North Carolinians Support Moratorium on Executions by More than Two to One Margin
Sixty-three percent of North Carolinians support a temporary suspension of executions while the state’s capital punishment system is studied, according a major statewide poll conducted in April 2004 by Doble Research Associates, a non-partisan, national polling firm. Twenty-eight percent of those polled oppose a temporary halt.
Support for the suspension is widespread among men and women, Democrats, Republicans and Independents, and death penalty supporters and opponents.
Prominent State Leaders Call for Temporary Halt of Executions
More than 150 prominent North Carolinians -- Republicans and Democrats, death penalty supporters and opponents -- have signed a letter to the state’s top political leaders calling for a temporary halt of executions while the
system is studied. Among the signers are nine former NC Supreme Court Justices, former prosecutors, elected officials, religious leaders, business leaders, murder victims’ family members, and noted NC authors. They
include:
- James F. Goodmon - President and CEO of Capitol Broadcasting Company
- Charles A. Sanders - former Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Glaxo, Inc.
- L.M. “Bud” Baker - former Chair of the Board of Wachovia Corporation, former Chair of NCCBI
- Dean E. Smith - Coach Emeritus of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill men’s basketball team
- Herb Sendek - Head coach of North Carolina State University’s men’s basketball team
- Honorable Rhoda B. Billings, former Chief Justice, NC Supreme Court, Professor of Law at Wake Forest Univ., Board Member, NC Commission on Indigent Defense Services
- Honorable Thomas W. Ross - Executive Director, Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, former North Carolina Superior Court Judge and former Director, NC Administrative Office of the Courts
- Honorable Janice McKenzie Cole - former US Attorney, NC Eastern District, former NC District Court Judge, former Police Officer
- William C. Friday - President Emeritus of the University of North Carolina System
- John Hope Franklin - James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of History
Read the Full Text of the Letter and View all Signatories
Local Governments and Newspapers Statewide Support Moratorium Legislation
The elected local governments of Winston-Salem, Charlotte, Davidson, Greensboro, Fayetteville, Asheville, Cary, Cofield, Dobbins Heights, Durham, Garysburg, Oak City, Creedmoor, Hillsborough, Norlina, Taylortown,
Thomasville, Winfall, Parmele, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Roper, Jamesville, Plymouth, Dover, Columbia, Creswell, Lewiston Woodville,Greenevers, and Princeville, as well as Chatham, Durham, Orange, Guilford, and Bertie
counties have all passed moratorium resolutions.
Every major newspaper in North Carolina and many smaller papers have endorsed a moratorium. Those include:
• Asheville Citizen-Times
• Burlington Times-News
• Carolinian (Raleigh)
• Carteret City New Times
• Chapel Hill News
• Charlotte Observer
• Chatham Record
• Chowan Herald
• Concord Independent Tribune
• Daily Courier (Forest City)
• Daily Dispatch (Henderson)
• Daily Herald (Roanoke Rapids)
• Daily Transcription (Waynesville)
• The Dispatch (Lexington)
• Fayetteville Observer
• Goldsboro News Argus
• Herald-Sun (Durham)
• Hickory Daily Record
• High Point Enterprise
• Independent Weekly
• Lake Gaston Gazette
• Lincolnton Times-News
• Mount Airy News
• News & Observer (Raleigh)
• News & Record (Greensboro)
• News Herald (Morganton)
• The Pilot, (Southern Pines)
• Record & Landmark (Statesville)
• Robesonian (Lumberton)
• Spring Hope Enterprise
• Stanley News and Press
• Transylvanian Times (Brevard)
• Tribune (Elkin)
• Washington Daily News
• Wilmington Morning Star
• Wilson Daily Times
• Winston-Salem Chronicle
• Winston-Salem Journal
North Carolina Juries Returning Fewer Death Sentences
In 1993, 33 people were sentenced to death in North Carolina. In 2004, there were just six. Forsyth County District Attorney Tom Keith and others believe the decline is due in part to skepticism of the justice system by juries
in the wake of news about wrongful convictions. (Winston-Salem Journal, 3/14/04; Wilmington Morning Star, 3/14/04)
PUBLIC OPINION POLL FINDS NORTH CAROLINIANS SUPPORT TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF EXECUTIONS
BY MORE THAN 2-1 MARGIN
• North Carolinians support a temporary suspension of executions while the state’s capital punishment system is studied by a margin of more than 2 to 1, with 63% in favor and 28% opposed.
• Support is widespread among men and women, Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, death penalty supporters and opponents, and people of all education levels.
Support also extends to all areas of the state.
• 59% of those polled said it would make no difference in their vote if a candidate for the legislature supported the moratorium bill. 24% said they would be more likely to support a candidate who favored a suspension of executions, while 12% said they would be less
likely to vote for a candidate who supported a moratorium.
• 71% of those polled said that North Carolina definitely or probably has freed someone from death row in the last 20 years because he was innocent. 56% said that North Carolina definitely or probably has executed an innocent person in the last 20 years.
• A majority of citizens favors the death penalty. 59% polled said they support the death penalty, while 27% said they oppose it.
• Only 47% of those polled said they believed “life without parole” means life. In 1994 a law was enacted in North Carolina making life without the possibility of parole the only alternative to a death sentence for capital murder.
• Given the option of true life without parole, respondents’ support for the death penalty dropped to 33%, with 43% favoring a life sentence. Given the option of life without parole and the offender working in prison to pay restitution to the victim’s family,
support for the death penalty dropped even further, to 26%, with support for a life sentence plus restitution at 64%.
• The statewide poll was commissioned by the North Carolina Council of Churches and conducted by Doble Research Associates, a nonpartisan, national consulting firm. Doble Research Associates’ clients include government agencies, states, corporations, colleges
and universities, foundations, and public service organizations.
• The poll was a telephone survey of 818 randomly sampled adult residents of North Carolina. The calls were made between April 13 and April 21, 2004. The margin of error is 3.4%.