A moratorium is simply a two-year suspension of executions. Death penalty trials and appeals will not be suspended. People can still be sentenced to death.

In 2005, the North Carolina Senate passed moratorium legislation that included a two-year halt of executions and a review of the state's death penalty system to ensure, among other things, that no innocent person is sentenced to death in North Carolina. That legislation was before the North Carolina House of Representatives during their short session this summer, but they did not vote on it before they adjourned.

This year, the NC House and Senate were presented with several pieces of reform legislation including:

• A Racial Justice Act
• A Proportionality Review Bill
• A Streamilined and Cost Effective Death Penalty Act
• A moratorium on executions
• A bill changing the current North Carolina law to only execute adults
• A bill reforming the Eyewitniess Identification process
• A bill requiring Law Enforcement officers to release all information partaining to a criminal proceeding to the District Attorney and
• A bill to enhance the reliability of interrogations

Why do we need a moratorium and reform?

North Carolinians want a fair, reliable and efficient capital punishment system. No one wants an innocent person to be executed. However, documented flaws in the state's death penalty system, including at least five innocent people having been sentenced to death, have prompted a broad cross-section of North Carolinians to support a two-year moratorium on executions and reform of capital punishment. That group includes Democrats and Republicans, supporters and opponents of the death penalty, and many associations, governmental bodies, organizations, and newspapers.

What is the history of the moratorium?

The American Bar Association, the largest voluntary professional association in the world, has for many years monitored and systematically studied the death penalty in the United States. In 1997, while taking no position for or against the death penalty, the ABA concluded that a moratorium on executions was necessary until states and the federal government can ensure that death penalty cases are administered fairly and impartially, in accordance with due process, and with confidence that the risk that innocent persons may be executed is minimized.

In 2003, the North Carolina Senate became the first legislative body to pass a moratorium bill.  Since that time, significant pieces of reform legislation has been introduced and passed in the North Carolina Genral Assembly.