North Carolinians Against the Death Penalty records, 1990-2003

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Summary

Creator:
North Carolinians Against the Death Penalty, Mock, Geoffrey, and Human Rights Archive (Duke University)
Abstract:
North Carolinians Against the Death Penalty (NCADP) was a coalition founded in the 1960s that, after resuming activity in the 1980s, worked through the early 2000s to abolish capital punishment by lobbying for legislative action and advocating for stays of execution for prisoners on death row. Collection consists of organizational records, partnership files from related groups, chronological files, news clippings, and other related materials. The collection documents the coalition's activism from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s, particularly the activities of NCADP leaders Geoffrey Mock and Gerda Stein, and its partnership with other organizations such as People of Faith Against the Death Penalty, Amnesty International, Carolina Justice Policy Center, the Center for Death Penalty Litigation, and the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. Acquired as part of the Human Rights Archive.
Extent:
1 Linear Foot (2 boxes, 1 videocassette)
Language:
Materials in English.
Collection ID:
RL.13170

Background

Scope and content:

The North Carolinians Against the Death Penalty records consist primarily of organizational and chronological files, materials from partner organizations, and media from a symposium. Materials date from the 1990s to the early 2000s and document the operation and advocacy of the NCADP, Geoffrey Mock, and allied anti-death penalty organizations.

Organizational records comprise meeting agendas, notes, mailing lists, and informational items for NCADP, along with materials reflecting the activities and partnerships of related groups such as People of Faith Against the Death Penalty, Amnesty International, the Carolina Justice Policy Center, the Center for Death Penalty Litigation, and other faith-based peace and justice organizations. The files also reflect collaboration and correspondence with national networks, especially the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, as well as documentation of Amnesty International's broader campaigns. Individuals represented in these materials include Dan Pollitt and Gerda Stein.

The chronological files trace the NCADP's and Geoffrey Mock's activism from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s through correspondence related to advocacy on behalf of death row prisoners, which includes letters from relatives of incarcerated individuals in 1999. Appeals to public officials, responses from politicians, news clippings, legislation drafts, and other organizational materials are also in the chronological files.

Files also include a video cassette recording of a 1998 symposium on the death penalty and a related paperback volume, Unjust in the Much, edited by Calvin Kytle and Dan Pollitt. Other materials related to the symposium can be found in the chronological files from 1998 and 1999 and include typescripts of selected presentations, news clippings, and a range of printed materials such as newsletters, pamphlets, brochures, and a transcript of testimony from a death penalty study committee.

Biographical / historical:

North Carolinians Against the Death Penalty (NCADP) was a coalition of multiple local organizations and invididuals opposed to capital punishment. It was founded in the 1960s to persuade the North Carolina General Assembly to abolish the death penalty. NCADP managed to have bills to end the death penalty considered, but none of the bills passed. When the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily abolished capital punishment in 1972, NCADP turned their attention elsewhere until the 1980s when capital punishment became legal again. NCADP continued their work through the 1990s and early 2000s. NCADP contributed to legislative measures to end or create a moratorium on the death penalty, and they advocated the cases of individuals on death row by sending letters to government officials for stays of executions. The organization is no longer active and appears to have stopped operating around 2003.

Geoffrey Mock headed the NCADP in the 1990s through the early 2000s as part of his ongoing activism for human rights, and he has also been active with Amnesty International for a number of years. As of 2025 he remains an active advocate for human rights in Durham, N.C.

Gerda Stein was another North Carolina-based activist and NCADP leader in the 1990s who also worked for the Center for Death Penalty Litigation.

Source: "A tribute to Gerda Stein," Center for Death Penalty Litigation website (accessed 2025 November 12); "Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award Citation: Geoffrey Mock," Office of the Provost [Duke University] website (accessed 2025 November 13).

Acquisition information:
The North Carolinians Against the Death Penalty records were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a gift from Geoffrey Mock in 2025.
Processing information:

Processed by Reina Henderson, November 2025.

Accessions described in this collection guide: 2025-0094

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

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Restrictions:

Access note. Some materials in this collection are original audiovisual items that need to be reformatted before use. Contact Research Services for access.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the Rubenstein Library's Citations, Permissions, and Copyright guide.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], North Carolinians Against the Death Penalty records, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

Permalink:
https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/m1v46p