Shelagh Kenney

Shelagh Kenney is the Interim Executive Director of the Center for Death Penalty Litigation, where she has spent more than two decades defending people on death row and challenging systemic racism in capital punishment. She has represented numerous individuals, including four whose death sentences were commuted in 2024, and has been a lead attorney in the landmark Racial Justice Act litigation. Her persistence and courage embody the fight to dismantle the death penalty in North Carolina.

——

The Paul Green Award recognizes people who have made important contributions to abolish or reform the death penalty. Paul E. Green, the writer-humanist who grew up on a Harnett County farm, was the state's leading advocate for the end to the death penalty from the 20’s into the 70’s.