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Witness to the History of the Death Penalty in North Carolina The execution chamber at Central prison in Raleigh, N.C / AP My Writing ​ The Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of Post-Furman Executions in North Carolina: A History of One Southern State’s Evolving Standards of Decency The State of North Carolina resumed executions post-Furman on March 16, 1984, at 2:00 a.m., with the execution by electrocution of James Hutchins, a severely mentally ill many who had shot and killed three law enforcement agents. Over the next 25 years, North Carolina executed 42 men and one woman. This article provides a brief overview of the more significant events that have shaped the face of the death penalty in this new era - events which the author views as coming in four waves - three that have ebbed and one that is yet to hit. The first wave was the crime wave of the 1980’s and early 90’s. This wave generated much energy, creating a second wave, one of strong public support for the death penalty; this wave, in turn, contributed to a third wave of increased death sentences. ​ These waves have now subsided. Today, there is a de facto moratorium on executions in North Carolina. When and if the moratorium is lifted, Adcock predicts that North Carolina’s newly elected Governor, Beverly Perdue, will likely find herself facing the “fourth wave” - a wave of execution dates not seen by any previous governor of this state or, perhaps, of any state. And this wave will involve a unique backdrop: a “sea change” in both the public support for the death penalty in North Carolina and in the reliability of the death penalty system, which has increased dramatically due to recent reforms. This article, ultimately, is about the Governor’s role at the time of a pending execution. Based on the history of executions in this state and on the changed milieu, this article argues that clemency must be done differently post-moratorium and offers the Governor some ideas for doing justice in the face of the coming wave of executions in today’s new landscape. The Article BRIEF OF AMICUS CURIAE NORTH CAROLINA COUNCIL OF CHURCHES IN SUPPORT OF FOUR RACIAL JUSTICE ACT CASES In the United States of America, religious institutions have historically played a pivotal role in shaping the national conscience on moral questions. Since our founding, courts and political institutions have recognized that morality and decency are subjects on which religious bodies legitimately claim a particular competence. Cf. Bowen v. Kendrick, 487 U.S. 589, 606-07 (1988) (noting the role of religious organizations in addressing secular problems in society). ​ The North Carolina Council of Churches (the Council) was founded in 1935 in order to address racial inequity. The Council has a long history of naming and dismantling prejudices, and of tending to the damage they have caused. The Council had never appeared as amicus curiae in a capital case, even withstanding its long history of advocacy against the death penalty. It has, rather, limited advocacy to organizing, education, and, in the 1980s and ‘90s, to appearances in clemency hearings before Governors. ​ The North Carolina Council of Churches filed this brief because the State of North Carolina seeks to execute four black persons despite significant evidence of racial bias in the jury selection methods used in their cases. These cases sit at the intersection of racial discrimination and the death penalty as applied in North Carolina, two concerns about which the Council has strong opinions. The Council felt compelled to speak at this critical time when North Carolina seems increasingly stressed by animosities along fault lines of race and class. ​ I write on behalf of the Council that the State actions violate the Eighth Amendment. The Council is especially suited to argue for an Eighth Amendment decision because of the common values of the Church and the Justice System. An Eighth Amendment analysis requires the Court to weigh the morality of executing individuals sentenced to death in proceedings in which race was a significant factor in material decisions of the prosecutors. We pray that the Court find the substantial evidence of racial bias sufficient and the immorality intolerable. The Brief More on the History of Death Penalty in NC Find out More More on the Death Penalty and Innocence Find out More More on the NC Racial Justice Act Find out More

For thirteen years, I represented a group of men and women on North Carolina’s death row – all of whom I first met between 1993 and 1995. Six clients died. The first died in January 1997 of “natural causes.” His death was, strangely, a victory for us both. The other five were executed, with the last being killed in 2005. I witnessed all but one of these executions. For the fifth, I buried him. ​ Lawyers are our clients’ storytellers. All the while, often unnoticeably, our clients become the shapers of our story and, often, the revealers of our character. My story is intertwined with my clients’ stories in a way that I could have never imagined when I entered the work. ​ I am writing my clients’ stories so that history will not forget. As I do, I also write the story of a little girl from the poor side of the tracks of Rome, Georgia who became an advocate for society’s most despised during one of the darkest times of criminal justice in North Carolina. Some of these stories are shared on this blog. Struggling to Breathe Blog

Organizations promoting law student pro bono Photo from https://abaforlawstudents.com/2016/09/20/diversifying-through-pro-bono-work/ ABA Center for Pro Bono Go Equal Justice Works Go NALP Public Service Initiatives Go AALS Pro Bono Survey Go

The Collateral Anti-Therapeutic Effects of the Death Penalty The death penalty debate in the United States typically pits the offensiveness of the crime and offender and the societal need for this extreme punishment as an expression of moral outrage against evidence of arbitrariness, the risk of executing an innocent person and other systemic injustices. Most recently, in these tough economic times, the extraordinary financial cost of the death penalty has been thrown into the balance. There are additional costs, however, that are rarely acknowledged in the death penalty debate - the human costs. Tens of thousands of people in the United States who are not on death row are intimately affected by current death sentences and past executions. This essay provides evidence - some of it first hand - of these human costs as measured by the anti-therapeutic effects of traumatic stress. Its focus is on the four groups: death row lawyers, family members of the condemned, murder victim family members, and the execution team. Therapeutic jurisprudence calls upon law-makers and law-advocates to understand and to consider both the therapeutic and anti-therapeutic effects a law has on individuals and on communities. This essay makes the case that in assessing the value of the death penalty, legislators must consider its collateral emotional and psychological damage. Article BRIEF OF AMICUS CURIAE, MURDER VICTIMS’ FAMILIES FOR RECONCILIATION OF NORTH CAROLINA IN FOUR RACIAL JUSTICE ACT CASES The North Carolina Chapter of Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation (MVFR of NC) filed this brief to provide the North Carolina Supreme Court with the perspective of murder victims' families which is often drowned out by the natural retributive emotions evoked in a capital murder case. We strongly believe that all lives matter, regardless of race, and that we deserve a judicial system that treats fairly all persons, including prospective black jurors, regardless of race. There are substantial reasons to question whether the concern with finality that has permeated the discussion of the North Carolina Racial Justice Act (RJA) is appropriate. We believe that racially-biased justice is not justice at all and is a disservice to victims. The need to secure a fair and just outcome takes on a marked urgency where life hangs in the balance. Therefore, as discussed further within, we support the findings and conclusions of the court below. Brief Forgiveness for Our Killing Article published in The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America, July-Sept 2014. Article Why I am Thankful Remarks given upon receipt of the 2006-2007 Distinguished Alumnus Award by Carson Newman College and published in Carson Newman Studies. Remarks My Writing: Features

Cindy Adcock Here I share my thoughts, writings, information, and photos gathered through my journeys: child of a loving mother, absent father, strange stepfathers, and protective grandparents; southern country girl raised with modest means in the foothills of Appalachia and the panhandle of Florida; first generation college graduate who earned three graduate degrees; progressive Baptist lawyer of death row inmates, broken by the work but made stronger; empathic introvert who came to love teaching adults; advocate of restorative justice and storytelling for peace and justice; world traveler and class-straddler. ​ Connecting virtually has never been more important. I hope we can. At torney Keeping House, Family, and Community A Southern White Woman's Journey to Erase Race Restorative Justice: Addressing the Harm of Violence The Fight in North Carolina Against the Death Penalty Travelogue Responsible Consumerism Law Schools and Public Service Responsible Consumerism Law Schools and Public Service Travelogue About Me My career spans work as a civil rights advocate, death penalty defense lawyer, legal educator, and social entrepreneur. I left full-time employment shortly before the Covid pandemic to spend more time with family, friends, and community and to discern where I could best plug in to make a difference consistent with my values. My long-held values include the rule of law, social justice, especially racial justice, storytelling, and community. The last few years have led me to add to this list: keeping house . ​ What's on my mind . . .

Teaching Law Students the Importance of Public Service My Writing Organizations Public Service: Gallery

My Involvement with the Fight Against the Death Penalty in North Carolina According to a 1964 NYU Law Review article, North Carolina has kept the most complete records of executions and commutations of any other state. Between 1903 and 1963, NC executed 358 inmates and commuted the death sentences of 235. In 1972, following the decision of the US Supreme Court in Furman v. Georgia, NC’s death penalty law was struck down as unconstitutional. The NC General Assembly responded by passing a mandatory death penalty, which it thought would take care of any unlawful considerations. This law was struck down by the US Supreme Court in 1976. The 1977 version of NC’s death penalty law, requiring juries to balance lawful considerations, remains largely intact today, though much has happened to narrow its application and to reveal its unreliability. Since reinstatement, 42 men and 1 woman have been executed; 233 persons have been otherwise removed from death row, either through legal relief granted by the courts and the governor or by death from natural causes and suicide. I became involved in the fight against the death penalty in 1993. Over the next thirteen years, there was a full-on push by the State of North Carolina to obtain death sentences and to execute those on death row. Thirty-eight men were executed, including five of my clients, but the law was reformed in a number of ways, slowing executions to a halt in 2006. The reasons for the halt can be attributed largely to: 1) the release from death row of 10 NC citizens shown to be actually innocent, as well as several other innocents released from life sentences and 2) significant evidence of racially biased application of the death penalty. The former provided a window into discovering the latter with the passage of the Racial Justice Act by NC’s General Assembly in 2009. Most of NC’s death row inmates sought relief under the Act but only four had a hearing before the Act was repealed by a reconstituted General Assembly in 2013. The four prisoners won relief, but upon appeal by the State, their cases were returned to the lowest court. That court returned the Four to death row. Recently, one of the Four once again had his death sentence vacated. The fate of the other three will soon be decided by the NC Supreme Court. ​ More information on all this can be found through the links below. The History through my lens Enter NC death penalty ORganizations Links

NC Death Penalty Organizations Center for Death Penalty Litigation Website N.C. Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty Website Capital Restorative Justice Project Website Carolina Justice Policy Center Website

My Anti-Racism Projects ​ RedressNC ​ Reimagining America Project ​ Confronting Racism ​

Travelogue I have always yearned for travel. When I was young, my mother would often say to me in exasperation , "Your middle name is GO... go, go, go, go." My desire to go grew into a love of travel, both for pleasure and for cultural education. Here are some thoughts, with pictures, from some of my travels. Scotland, England, Poland, Israel

Restorative Justice: Addressing the Harm of Excessive Retribution My RJ Blog REDRESSNC Capital Restorative Justice Project My RJ Publications The Death Penalty: Gallery