HomeMy WebLinkAboutRES-2024-056-RESOLUTION CALLING ON GOVERNOR ROY COOPER TO COMMUTE ALL NORTH CAROLINA DEATH SENTENCES TO PRISON TERMS RES - 2024- 056I =d I � c) ) lcqLl DRAFT
ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
RESOLUTION CALLING ON GOVERNOR ROY COOPER TO COMMUTE ALL NORTH
CAROLINA DEATH SENTENCES TO PRISON TERMS
WHEREAS , our community upholds the values of fairness and due process for all people ; and
WHEREAS , the criminal justice system , including the death penalty , starts at the local level , with local tax
dollars and local employees used to enforce the law ; and
WHEREAS , the administration of the death penalty affects all of our community ' s residents as victims and
victims ' family members , as offenders and offenders ' family members , and the community at large ; and
WHEREAS , a fair criminal justice system benefits the entire community ; and
WHEREAS , 200 innocent people in the United States since 1973 have been exonerated and released from
death row ; and
WHEREAS , North Carolina ' s death penalty has led to at least twelve innocent people being condemned to
die in the modern era , one of whom spent 30 years on death row before DNA testing proved another man
was the culprit ; and
WHEREAS , intentional and systematic racial bias has been shown to have a " persistent , persuasive and
distorting role ' in North Carolina ' s death penalty ( North Carolina v . Robinson , 2012 ; Michigan State
University , 2010 ; UNC , 2000 ) ; and
WHEREAS , a 2024 Racial Justice Act hearing revealed stark new evidence of racial inequities in the death
penalty , including the intentional exclusion of Black individuals from capital juries ; and
WHEREAS , the death penalty is closely linked to North Carolina ' s history of slavery , lynching , and Jim
Crow and continues to be disproportionately imposed on Black men for crimes against white people ; and
WHEREAS , North Carolina houses the nation ' s fifth largest death row , made up largely of people
sentenced more than 25 years ago before important reforms to the capital punishment system and a
dramatic drop - off in death sentencing ; and
WHEREAS , the death penalty has no proven public safety value and public support for executions has
reached historic lows ( https : Hnews . gallup . com/poll /513806/new- low- say- death - penalty-fairly-
applied . aspx) ; and
WHEREAS , millions of North Carolina taxpayers ' dollars spent on the death penalty every decade could
be used for crime prevention and programs to offer assistance to murder victims ' families ;
NOW THEREFORE , BE IT RESOLVED that the Orange County Board of Commissioners calls on the
Governor of North Carolina to use his broad clemency power to commute North Carolina ' s 136 death
sentences to prison terms , therefore insuring that these outdated and unfair sentences are never carried
out .
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this resolution shall be forwarded by Clerk to the Board of
Commissioners to the Governor of theot Carolina .
�lop
�
This the 1st day of October , 2024 .
�r
52 Jary9zettatedford , Ch it
` Orange County Board of Commissioners
9
4