North Carolina governor commutes 15 death sentences to LWOP

 Across the country, death sentences began a steep and steady decline twenty-five years ago. Today, just a relic of the prior practice remains in a handful of scattered counties, which maintain the practice at great public expense. North Carolina is no exception to this national trend, reported the Raleigh News & Observer. 

The death penalty is at the end of its rope. There are good reasons why. As a law professor who works to promote effective policy, it is clear to me that many of our responses to crime are based on inertia and emotion rather than solid evidence. That is especially true for the death penalty, which has no deterrent effect, costs taxpayers dearly and is riddled with errors and biases. 

That is why Gov. Roy Cooper’s commutation of 15 death sentences to life without parole sentences bears great significance. Cooper is the first governor in the history of North Carolina’s modern death penalty to grant more than two such commutations. With his action, Cooper acknowledged, in detailing a series of factors these cases implicated, the death penalty’s flaws and the responsibility of elected leaders to move away from this failed policy. 

Before these 15 commutations, it housed 136 people, nearly all of whom were sentenced more than 20 years ago. Today, capital trials are rare and juries almost never choose death sentences. In 2024, just three death penalty trials occurred with no new death sentences. A new Gallup poll found death penalty support continuing to erode among all groups, but especially among young people.

The death row commutations, alongside other commutations and pardons, are part of a larger effort to move toward smarter approaches to public safety. In 2020, Cooper created the Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice, a huge step towards addressing racial inequities embedded in our criminal system. In 2021, he created the Juvenile Sentence Review Board to begin to ameliorate excessive sentences imposed on children. In 2023, he formed the Office of Violence Prevention, which takes a public health approach to preventing violence by strengthening communities. 

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