RALEIGH -- The death chamber at Central Prison in Raleigh has sat empty since the morning of August 8, 2006. That was the last time an inmate was executed in North Carolina.
"In North Carolina in particular, there has been a law change last year to make it easier to implement the death penalty,” said Steven Friedland with Elon School of Law. "It's no longer requiring doctors, it's other medical professionals. However, it does not mean that the state will overcome all of these issues that still are on the table.”
Lawsuits prompted the moratorium, after concerns about the way executions are carried out in North Carolina and additional questions if physicians could give the lethal injections. There are also ongoing questions about racial bias in sentencing and potential botched executions.
“The death penalty is, of course, the ultimate protection,” said Friedland. "The question is, is it fair? And is it cruel and unusual punishment under the 8th Amendment to the Constitution?”
In the time since the moratorium has been in place, four people have been released from death row and exonerated. Some argue it may be time to put an end to the death penalty in North Carolina.
"I think we feel like the writing is on the wall,” said Kristin Collins with the Center for Death Penalty Litigation. “Nationally the number of executions is going down and down and down each year. There have only been three states that have managed to carry out an execution in 2016.”
Right now, 31 states have the death penalty, but several states have done away with their death penalty in the past few years.
"It’s been 10 years since we have had an execution, and during that time the murder rate has actually declined,” said Collins. “So the argument that we need to be executing people as a deterrent to crime and murder doesn't seem to be holding up.”
For North Carolina, the death penalty will continue to remain in limbo as litigation continues.