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Resolution on the Death Penalty

April 23, 1987 by North Carolina Council of Churches

Adopted by the House of Delegates, North Carolina Council of Churches, April 23, 1987

WHEREAS, the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday (April 22, 1987) by a 5 to 4 decision upheld as constitutional the Georgia State Court’s imposition of the death penalty in the McCleskey case, despite strong and convincing evidence demonstrated in the Baldue study that a criminal defendant is 11 times more likely to receive the death sentence in the courts of the state if the victim was white than if the victim was black; and

WHEREAS, The N.C. General Assembly now has before it proposed legislation to protect children seventeen years of age or under from the receiving the death sentence; and

WHEREAS, the Council considers it especially important, in light of the McCleskey decision, to reaffirm its long-standing opposition to the death penalty;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that this Council does reaffirm its opposition to the death penalty and requests its member churches to:

  1. Petition the N.C. General Assembly to enact the bill which would protect children from the death penalty and, further, to introduce and enact a bill which would abolish the death penalty for all persons, and
  2. Petition the governor of North Carolina to commute the sentences of those persons now on Death Row.

Filed Under: Issue Statements Tagged With: Criminal Justice, Death Penalty

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