NEW VOICES: Murder Victims’ Family Members Join Call for North Carolina Death Penalty Moratorium

In a let­ter to the North Carolina House of Representatives, 21 fam­i­ly mem­bers of mur­der vic­tims voiced their con­cerns about the state’s error-rid­den death penal­ty sys­tem and urged mem­bers to pass leg­is­la­tion that would impose a two-year mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions while a study is con­duct­ed. ​“We are trou­bled by cas­es in which inad­e­quate rep­re­sen­ta­tion or pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct led to inno­cent peo­ple being sent to our North Carolina Death Row. We are trou­bled by the ongo­ing evi­dence that our death penal­ty sys­tem is plagued by class and racial bias,” the fam­i­ly mem­bers wrote. ​“The crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem can­not assuage the sor­row of a mur­der vic­tim’s fam­i­ly, but the sys­tem should demon­strate to us that it is just and fair.” The 21 vic­tims’ fam­i­ly mem­bers join a lengthy list of mora­to­ri­um pro­po­nents, includ­ing 8 for­mer North Carolina Supreme Court jus­tices, reli­gious lead­ers, and oth­er com­mu­ni­ty lead­ers. Last Spring, the North Carolina Senate passed com­pan­ion leg­is­la­tion to the House bill. A statewide poll showed that North Carolinians sup­port the mora­to­ri­um by more than two-to-one. (North Carolina Moratorium Now Press Release, July 7, 2004, with let­ter from fam­i­ly mem­bers). See Victims.