RALEIGH, N.C. (Aug. 31, 2026) — More than 100 organizations and faith and community leaders across North Carolina are calling for the state to permanently move beyond the death penalty, marking 20 years since the state’s last execution with a joint statement. North...
GREENVILLE, N.C. (July 15, 2026) — James Richardson, who has spent more than 17 years in prison for a shooting he did not commit, has been denied a chance to prove his innocence. Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ) and Tin Fulton Walker & Owen represent...
FORT WORTH, Texas (June 30, 2026) — Savanna Batten, one of the Prairieland protesters, received an astonishing sentence last week: 50 years in federal prison for attending a protest and running a book club. Now, she is appealing. Southern Coalition for Social...
DURHAM, N.C. (March 24, 2026) — Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ) is opposed to the federal government’s aggressive expansion of immigration detention centers, which threatens the safety, stability, and dignity of communities across the South and beyond. ...
GREENVILLE, N.C. (August 12, 2025) — James Richardson, an innocent North Carolina man wrongfully convicted for the murders of two people nearly two decades ago in Pitt County, will have his case back in court later this month as he continues to fight for his freedom....
RALEIGH, N.C. (April 2, 2025) — A federal judge has denied issuing a judgment before trial in a lawsuit challenging the North Carolina Parole Commission’s review process for people who were children when they were sentenced to prison and ordered additional fact...
DURHAM, N.C. (Dec. 31, 2024) - Today, Gov. Roy Cooper made history by commuting 15 death sentences to life without parole - including a Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ) client - marking a significant shift away from the death penalty in North Carolina. ...
DURHAM, N.C. (Dec. 23, 2024) - Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ) applauds President Joe Biden for his decision to commute 37 of the 40 federal death row sentences, a critical step toward addressing systemic inequities in the legal system and the moral...
RALEIGH , N.C. (Oct. 31, 2024) — North Carolina human rights organizations signed onto a letter to demand the release of 400 incarcerated women and 1,500 incarcerated men to ease dangerous, inhumane overcrowding after evacuations and shut-downs due to Hurricane...
SMITHFIELD, N.C. (Aug. 21, 2024) — Closing arguments in the historic Racial Justice Act (RJA) hearing in the case of Hasson Bacote are scheduled to take place beginning at 10 a.m. Wednesday (today) at the Johnston County Courthouse. North Carolina’s RJA was the first...
RALEIGH, N.C. — The Southern Coalition for Social Justice is joining other civil rights groups and the community in calling for an end to over-policing and police violence after the police killings this month of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tenn., and Darryl Tyree...
SCSJ Files Amicus Curiae Brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Urging Reversal of District Court Grant of Immunity in Controversial Police Shooting Case Brief, submitted on behalf of Texas NAACP, argues decision sets a dangerous precedent AUSTIN,...