Death Penalty Information Center
Search Close Menu
  • Issues
    • Issues
    • Biases & Vulnerabilities
      • Intellectual Disability
      • Mental Illness
      • Race
      • LGBTQ+ People
      • Youth
    • Policy
      • Arbitrariness How non-legal factors affect use of the death penalty
      • Clemency Death sentence reductions and pardons by state and federal executives
      • Costs The death penalty’s monetary cost to taxpayers
      • Deterrence Whether the death penalty deters future violent crime
      • Human Rights How international human rights law and treaties view the death penalty
      • Innocence People wrongfully sentenced to death
      • International How the death penalty is used in countries outside the U.S.
      • Legal Representation How the quality of defense counsel affects death penalty outcomes
      • Official Misconduct How wrongful government action affects death penalty outcomes
      • Public Opinion What the public says about the death penalty
      • Sentencing Alternatives Sentencing options for death-eligible crimes
      • US Supreme Court Supreme Court death penalty cases
  • Research
    • Research
    • Background
      • Crimes Punishable by Death
      • Fact Sheet
      • History of the Death Penalty
    • Data
      • Death Penalty Census
      • Execution Database
      • Innocence Database
      • Legislative Activity
      • Sentencing Data
    • Analysis
      • DPI Reports
    • DPI Reports Dec 19, 2024 The Death Penalty in 2024 Death Sentences and Executions Remain Near Historic Lows Amid Growing Concerns about Fairness and Innocence
  • Death Row & Executions
    • Death Row
      • Death Row Overview
      • Conditions on Death Row
      • Time on Death Row
      • Foreign Nationals
      • Native Americans
      • Women
    • Executions
      • Executions Overview
      • Upcoming Executions
      • Execution Database
      • Methods of Execution
      • Botched Executions
  • State & Federal Info
    • State & Federal Info
    • State by State
    • Federal Death Penalty
    • Military
    • Explore by State

      • Death Penalty
      • Pause on Executions
      • No Death Penalty
      AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY DC
  • Resources
    • Resources
    • Links
      • College Curriculum Case narratives and resources to guide college discussions
      • DPI Podcasts DPI’s monthly podcast series where we speak with death penalty experts.
      • High School Curriculum Materials designed for high school educators and students
      • Publications & Testimony How DPI and others speak about the death penalty
      • Related Websites Links to governmental, advocacy, and legal organizations
      • Student Research Center Resources for students researching the death penalty
      • Teacher's Guide Two-week lesson plans for middle and high school classes
      • En Español Información sobre la pena de muerte en español
    • DPI Resource Fact Sheet PDF handout with facts about the Death Penalty.
  • About DPI
  • Media Contact
  • Donate

State & Federal

North Carolina

Timeline

1973 — North Carolina rein­states the death penal­ty fol­low­ing Furman v. Georgia.

1974 — The North Carolina leg­is­la­ture enacts a manda­to­ry death penalty statute.

1977 — The U.S. Supreme Court strikes down North Carolina’s manda­to­ry death sen­tenc­ing scheme in Woodson v. North Carolina.

2001 — The Indigent Services Commission is found­ed, ensur­ing that defense coun­sels are prop­er­ly trained, edu­cat­ed, and qual­i­fied. The ISC is respon­si­ble for the allo­ca­tion of resources for experts, inves­ti­ga­tors, and oth­er expens­es incurred in defend­ing a capital trial.

2006 — The Innocence Inquiry Commission is cre­at­ed by the North Carolina General Assembly, respon­si­ble for review­ing inno­cence claims and conducting hearings.

2009 — North Carolina pass­es the Racial Justice Act, which pro­hibits seek­ing or impos­ing the death penal­ty on the basis of race.

2013 — North Carolina leg­is­la­ture repeals the Racial Justice Act.

2015 — North Carolina Supreme Court vacates rul­ings that reduced four death row pris­on­ers’ sen­tences to life with­out parole under the state’s Racial Justice Act.

2018 — North Carolina Supreme Court agrees to hear appeals from three of the four death row pris­on­ers whose sen­tences were reduced and then reinstated.

2019 — North Carolina impos­es first death sen­tence in more than a decade when a cap­i­tal sen­tenc­ing jury votes to sen­tence Seaga Gillard to death.

2019 — North Carolina Supreme Court hears argu­ments on whether the state may retroac­tive­ly apply the leg­isla­tive repeal of the Racial Justice Act in 2013, restor­ing the rights of approx­i­mate­ly 140 death row pris­on­ers seek­ing redress of death sen­tences they claim were affect­ed by racial bias.

2020 — North Carolina Supreme Court restores life sen­tences giv­en to three of the death row pris­on­ers whose sen­tences were reduced and then rein­stat­ed fol­low­ing the 2013 repeal of the Racial Justice Act.

2021 — A North Carolina judge orders pros­e­cu­tors to dis­close decades worth of data per­tain­ing to jury selec­tion in capital cases.

2022 — North Carolina ACLU lawyers file a chal­lenge to the method in which jurors are select­ed, argu­ing that the process of ​“death qual­i­fi­ca­tion” pro­duces racial­ly and sex­u­al­ly unrepresentative juries.

Notable Exonerations

Henry McCollum and Leon Brown, two broth­ers who were con­vict­ed of mur­der and sen­tenced to death in 1984, were freed in 2014 because of evi­dence uncov­ered by the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission. McCollum was 19 and Brown was 15 when they con­fessed to the rape and mur­der of 11-year-old Sabrina Buie. Both men are intel­lec­tu­al­ly dis­abled — McCollum has an IQ in the 60s and Brown has scored as low as 49 on IQ tests. McCollum and Brown have main­tained their inno­cence since their tri­al, say­ing they were unaware they were sign­ing a confession.

Jonathon Hoffman, a black man charged with killing a white man, was tried and con­vict­ed by an all-white jury despite the fact that no phys­i­cal evi­dence con­nect­ed him to the mur­der of Danny Cook. The pros­e­cu­tors in his case with­held evi­dence that was favor­able to Hoffman. Neither the defense attor­ney nor the judge knew of a deal in which pros­e­cu­tors paid Hoffman’s cousin to tes­ti­fy against him — an omis­sion that result­ed in the crim­i­nal inves­ti­ga­tion of Ken Honeycutt and Scott Brewer, the pros­e­cu­tors in the orig­i­nal tri­al. Charges were dis­missed in 2007, after Hoffman had spent 12 years on death row.

Glen Edward Chapman was grant­ed a new tri­al in 2007, due to with­held evi­dence, ​“lost, mis­placed or destroyed” doc­u­ments, the use of weak, cir­cum­stan­tial evi­dence, false tes­ti­mo­ny by the lead inves­ti­ga­tor, and inef­fec­tive assis­tance of defense coun­sel. There was also new infor­ma­tion from a foren­sic pathol­o­gist that raised doubts as to whether the mur­der for which Chapman was con­vict­ed was a homi­cide or caused by an over­dose of drugs. Chapman was released in 2008, when charges against him were dropped.

Levon ​“Bo” Jones’ con­vic­tion was over­turned due to his defense coun­sel’s ​“con­sti­tu­tion­al­ly defi­cient” per­for­mance. In April 2008, short­ly before a retri­al was set to begin, Jones’ new defense team filed an affi­davit in which the star wit­ness from his first tri­al said, ​“Much of what I tes­ti­fied to was sim­ply not true.” Jones spent 15 years on death row, and was released in May 2008

Milestones in Abolition/​Reinstatement

Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1972 deci­sion in Furman v. Georgia, inval­i­dat­ing all death sen­tences nation­wide, the North Carolina Supreme Court reviewed North Carolina’s death penal­ty statute in 1973 in State v. Waddell. The Waddell court held that the uncon­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of North Carolina’s death penal­ty statute could be resolved by sev­er­ing the por­tion of the statute that allowed a jury to rec­om­mend either a life sen­tence or a death sen­tence. The deci­sion there­fore made future death sen­tences manda­to­ry. In 1974, the North Carolina leg­is­la­ture fol­lowed the Waddell deci­sion by enact­ing a manda­to­ry death penalty statute.

Three years lat­er, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down North Carolina’s manda­to­ry death sen­tenc­ing scheme in Woodson v. North Carolina. The North Carolina leg­is­la­ture respond­ed by enact­ing a new death penal­ty statute that took effect on June 1, 1977.

In August 2009, North Carolina passed the Racial Justice Act, which pro­hib­it­ed seek­ing or impos­ing the death penal­ty on the basis of race, includ­ed the use of statewide sta­tis­ti­cal evi­dence to show a pat­tern of racial dis­crim­i­na­tion, and applied retroac­tive­ly for one year.

Kentucky was the first state to pass a Racial Justice Act, though NC’s RJA dif­fered from Kentucky’s as it allowed for retroac­tive appli­ca­tion and also per­mit­ted the use of sta­tis­ti­cal evi­dence to show that race was a ​“sig­nif­i­cant fac­tor in deci­sions to seek or impose the sen­tence of death in the coun­ty, the pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al dis­trict, or the State at large at the time the death sen­tence was sought or imposed.”

In 2013, the leg­is­la­ture repealed the Racial Justice Act. Prior to repeal, four inmates had been grant­ed relief under the act, but those deci­sions were vacat­ed by the North Carolina Supreme Court in December 2015.

North Carolina ​“Firsts”

Indigent Services Commission, cre­at­ed in July, 2001, devel­oped stan­dards gov­ern­ing the qual­i­fi­ca­tions of defense coun­sel, required coun­sel to seek con­sul­ta­tions with the Center for Death Penalty Litigation pri­or to tri­al, took over the respon­si­bil­i­ty of appoint­ing and com­pen­sat­ing coun­sel through the Office of the Capital Defender, pro­vid­ed increased train­ing and super­vi­sion of attor­neys, and took over respon­si­bil­i­ty for allo­cat­ing the resources for experts, inves­ti­ga­tors, and oth­er expens­es incurred in defend­ing a capital trial.

Innocence Inquiry Commission

The North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission is the first of its kind in the nation. The Commission was cre­at­ed by the North Carolina General Assembly in 2006 and began oper­at­ing in 2007. Since then, the Commission has reviewed hun­dreds of inno­cence claims and con­duct­ed mul­ti­ple hear­ings. On February 17, 2010, Gregory Taylor was the first per­son to be exon­er­at­ed by this unique process. Mr. Taylor was declared inno­cent by a pan­el of three judges after serv­ing 17 years for a mur­der that he did not commit.

Four of North Carolina’s exonerees (three from death row): (front row, from left to right) Levon ​“Bo” Jones, Jonathan Hoffman, Glen Edward Chapman and Darryl Hunt. Photo by Jack Payden-Travers.

Resources

  • North Carolina Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
  • Center for Death Penalty Litigation
  • Department of Corrections
  • North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys
  • Indigent Defense Services
  • Victims’ ser­vices
  • The Death Penalty in North Carolina: A Summary of the Data and Scientific Studies by Dr. Matthew Robinson of Appalachian State University
  • People of Faith Against the Death Penalty

North Carolina Execution Totals Since 1976


News & Developments


News

Mar 28, 2025

“He Looks a Little Like the Defendant”: A Closer Look at the History of Racial Bias in Jury Selection

As clos­ing argu­ments of his tri­al began in Johnston County, North Carolina, Hasson Bacote watched as Assistant District Attorney Gregory Butler urged the jury to sen­tence him to death. Mr. Bacote, a Black man, had been con­vict­ed of fatal­ly shoot­ing 18-year-old Anthony Surles dur­ing a rob­bery when Mr. Bacote was just 21 years old. Mr. Bacote admit­ted he had fired a sin­gle shot out of a trail­er, but said he did not know that he hit any­one.​“Hasson Bacote is a thug: cold-blooded…

Read More

News

Feb 10, 2025

Focus on Race: Henderson Hill’s Legacy in the Death Penalty Movement

Henderson Hill has ded­i­cat­ed his career to plac­ing race and the death penal­ty on tri­al. This month, the Death Penalty Information Center cel­e­brates Black History Month by rec­og­niz­ing Mr. Hill’s ongo­ing con­tri­bu­tions to the modern death…

Read More

News

Feb 07, 2025

Judge Finds Race Plays a ​“Significant Role” in Death Sentences in Three North Carolina Counties

Brandonrush, CC0, via Wikimedia…

Read More

News

Jan 02, 2025

In Wake of President Biden’s Federal Commutations, North Carolina Governor Cooper Grants Clemency to 15 Death-Sentenced Prisoners, the Largest Grant of Capital Clemency in State History

Governor…

Read More

News

Aug 28, 2024

Closing Arguments in Hasson Bacote’s North Carolina Racial Justice Act Hearing Conclude; Results Could Impact More than 100 People on State’s Death Row

Brandonrush, CC0, via Wikimedia…

Read More
View More

View Information by State

Additional Information


  • Death Penalty: Yes
  • Number of Executions Since 1976: 43
  • Number of Executions Before 1976 (may include fed­er­al and military executions): 784
  • Current Death Row Population: 123
  • Women on Death Row: 2
  • Number of Innocent People Freed From Death Row: 12
  • Number of Clemencies Granted: 20
  • Date of Reinstatement (fol­low­ing Furman v. Georgia): January 18, 1973; June 1, 1977
  • First Execution After Reinstatement: 1984
  • Location of Death Row/​Executions (Men): Central Prison, Raleigh
  • Location of Death Row/​Executions (Women): North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women, Raleigh
  • Capital: Raleigh
  • Region: South
  • Population: 10,439,388*
  • Murder Rate (per 100,000 population): 6.03
  • Is Life Without Parole an Option?: Yes
  • Can defen­dant get death for a felony in which s/​he was not respon­si­ble for the murder?: Yes
  • Method of Execution: Injection
  • How is Sentence Determined?: Jury
  • Clemency Process: Governor has sole author­i­ty to grant clemency
  • Governor: Josh Stein
Upcoming Executions

Upcoming Executions

Information about scheduled executions around the country

Innocence

Innocence

For every 8.2 peo­ple exe­cut­ed in the Unit­ed States in the mod­ern era of the death penal­ty, one per­son on death row has been exon­er­at­ed.

State-By-State

State-By-State

States With and Without the Death Penalty

DPI Fact Sheet

DPI Fact Sheet

PDF handout with facts about the Death Penalty

More Information


Innocence Database

Execution Database

Death Penalty Census Database

Death Penalty Information Center
  • Issues
    • Overview
    • Biases & Vulnerabilities
      • Intellectual Disability
      • Mental Illness
      • Race
      • LGBTQ+ People
      • Youth
    • Policy
      • Arbitrariness
      • Clemency
      • Costs
      • Deterrence
      • Human Rights
      • Innocence
      • International
      • Legal Representation
      • Official Misconduct
      • Public Opinion
      • Sentencing Alternatives
      • US Supreme Court
  • Research
    • Overview
    • Background
      • Crimes Punishable by Death
      • Fact Sheet
      • History of the Death Penalty
    • Data
      • Death Penalty Census
      • Execution Database
      • Innocence Database
      • Legislative Activity
      • Sentencing Data
    • Analysis
      • DPI Reports
  • Death Row & Executions
    • Death Row
      • Overview
      • Conditions on Death Row
      • Time on Death Row
      • Foreign Nationals
      • Native Americans
      • Women
    • Executions
      • Overview
      • Upcoming Executions
      • Execution Database
      • Methods of Execution
      • Botched Executions
  • State & Federal Info
    • Overview
    • State by State
    • Federal Death Penalty
    • Military
  • About
    • About DPI
    • Staff & Board of Directors
    • Press Releases
    • Work for DPI
  • Resources
    • Overview
    • Links
      • College Curriculum
      • DPI Podcasts
      • High School Curriculum
      • Publications & Testimony
      • Related Websites
      • Student Research Center
      • Teacher's Guide
      • En Español
Subscribe to our Newsletter
Close
Subscribe to our Newsletter

Weekly updated from DPI

Get our full length featured story in your inbox weekly.

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
Donate
Death Penalty Information Center | 1701 K Street NW, Suite 750, Washington, DC 20006
Privacy Policy | ©2025 Death Penalty Information Center