RALEIGH, N.C. — American Civil Liberties Union, Inc. and ACLU of North Carolina released the following statement on the results of the primary election for the next Wake County district attorney:
The next elected Wake County District Attorney must use the considerable power and platform of the Wake County District Attorney’s Office to advance meaningful changes to our criminal legal system that will make our community a more just, fair, safe, and equitable place for all of us. We will hold the next DA accountable on racial and criminal justice issues, including the need to eliminate life without parole sentences for child defendants under age 18, death sentences for people with severe mental illness, and prosecution of personal marijuana use.
The NC General Assembly will begin its legislative short session tomorrow. We will be carefully observing the actions of the NC Conference of District Attorneys and hope to see their focus shift away from obstructing common-sense bipartisan reforms. These local and state reforms would start to address mass incarceration in North Carolina, and the racial, economic, and health inequities to which it is inherently linked. As we move forward to the general election in November, we look forward to continuing our engagement with voters about the power of district attorneys to transform our criminal legal system in Wake County and across North Carolina.
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