Today, advocates in North Carolina are kicking off a 136-mile "Walk for Commutation" to raise awareness about those on death row who could soon face execution.
Organized by the North Carolina Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, the walk is part of a larger push that calls on Gov. Roy Cooper to commute the death sentences before he leaves office.
Noel Nickle, executive director of the North Carolina Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, stresses the urgency as the state prepares for a change in leadership.
"There's really no denying the racism of the death penalty," Nickle explained. "There's also no denying that death sentences have dramatically decreased. Most people on death row were sentenced more than 20 years ago. People are aging. They are no longer, if they ever were, a threat to our communities. We know that the death penalty doesn't keep us safe."
North Carolina has not executed anyone since 2006, but concerns are growing that the state may follow South Carolina's recent decision to restart executions after a 13-year pause.
Nickle called attention to the racial and geographic disparities in death penalty cases. She explained that 60% of the people on death row are Black despite them making up a smaller share of the state population, and added that being put on death row can sometimes depend on where you live.
"For example, we'll be walking through Chapel Hill and Durham as well where there's no one on death row and where the district attorneys have said -- in fact, they were elected on a platform of not seeking the death penalty," she said.
Nickle added the coalition's goal is to spark a statewide conversation about the death penalty's flaws and the urgent need for reform. The walk will begin outside of the Forsyth County Courthouse and conclude on Oct. 10, which is World Day Against the Death Penalty.
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Hundreds of people from across Michigan gathered in Lansing this week, urging House Speaker Joe Tate, D-Detroit and Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, to advance the Second Look Sentencing Act to improve prison safety. The legislation allows people serving long sentences to have their cases reviewed for possible sentence reductions based on factors such as rehabilitation. The crowd included formerly incarcerated people who've turned their lives around and their families, victims of crime, prison staff and lawmakers.
Chuck Warpehoski, projects director with Michigan Collaborative to End Mass Incarceration, warned there is a prison staffing crisis in Michigan.
"We're seeing it in nursing, we're seeing it in child care, we're seeing it on the shop floor, we're seeing it with baristas. When it happens in a prison and people are forced to work mandatory double shifts, they're tired, they're not seeing their family -- it creates unsafe conditions for everyone," he said.
Warpehoski added they're urging lawmakers to pass the Second Look Act during this lame-duck session before they go home for the holidays.
He also pointed out the high costs of incarcerating people -- up to $48,000 per year, per person. He added that with the failed pay incentives to attract more staff, he believes it's clear a different solution is needed. Warpehoski shared some of the feedback they received.
"A lot of legislators and their staff said, hey, this makes sense -- and so it was a really, really positive response from not every office, but from a large number of offices we had meetings with," he continued.
Warpehoski stressed that Second Look legislation focuses on fairness by offering the possibility of release for individuals who have rehabilitated and are no longer a threat to society.
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Advocates of criminal-justice reform warn the passage of Proposition 36 will mean a sharp reduction in funds to anti-crime initiatives. The measure raises the penalties for certain drug and theft crimes, making more of them felonies that carry jail time.
Will Matthews, a spokesperson for Californians for Safety and Justice, a nonprofit public-safety advocacy organization, said voters were fed false promises that Prop. 36 would reduce property crime by forcing more people to choose between treatment and incarceration.
"It really was a disingenuous initiative that now will result in billions of dollars being diverted away from treating addiction, treating mental illness, and helping folks coming home from a period of incarceration," he said.
Prop. 36 repeals parts of Proposition 47, which funneled the savings from reduced prison costs into programs designed to combat poverty and addiction - the root causes of crime.
Christopher Hallenbrook, a political science professor with Cal State Dominguez Hills, agrees that Prop 36 will cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars, money he says will be diverted from anti-crime initiatives.
"There's no way you can pass '36' and not put more people in jail. The more money you're spending on incarceration, the less money you're spending on other things," Hallenbrook stated. "That is definitely an accurate assessment for Prop. 36 and it seems to be one that voters decided they were OK with."
Prop. 36 was largely funded by such retail giants as Home Depot, Target and Walmart, hoping that the prospect of higher penalties would deter retail crime.
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Loretta Rush, Chief Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court, has released the 2023-24 annual report for the state's courts.
The report shows Indiana's judicial system is taking big steps to tackle the mental health crisis. The Supreme Court recently launched the Office of Behavioral Health and hired Brittany Kelly as its behavioral health specialist, making Indiana the tenth state in the country to embed a mental health professional within its judiciary.
"She's off and running. She's had hundreds of inquiries from around the state. She's meeting with judges," Rush outlined. "She's helping with things like competency evaluations, access to Medicaid, how do I get somebody who's going through dementia through the court system?"
Rush pointed out Kelly will help the courts manage the mental health and substance use issues flooding Indiana's courtrooms daily. The latest report shows more than 1 million cases passed through the courts this past fiscal year, including almost 20,000 involuntary mental health hearings and a sharp rise in protective orders for domestic violence.
Rush highlighted the strain on local courts, noting about 70% of people in jail have behavioral health issues.
"How do we make sure we have diversion programs in place? How do we make sure that the services we're ordering for people to do are the right services?" Rush asked. "We've done a lot at the national level with regard to substance abuse and mental health, realizing programs that are working."
The judiciary is working with state agencies to reform policies and address the impact of mental health issues on the system. Kelly has training in both social work and law, and helps judges connect with treatment resources to get people the support they need and keep them out of jail.
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