But to get such a law, death penalty foes may have to accept a move to restart executions, which have been stalled for more than a year.
In their final days at work, legislators will debate life and death, penalties for gang members and a school bullying bill.
Legislators want to end their work by Friday.
It's typical for legislators to wait until the last weeks of their session to pass dozens of laws, minor and substantial. Legislators generally agree it's not the best way to work, but it's a pattern they haven't been able to break. Budget negotiations consume key legislators and draw their attention from other bills.
The end-of-session decisions mean long workdays, high stress and laws that don't get a thorough going-over before they pass.
"There's a lot of mischief that comes out the last few weeks," said Andy Dedmon, a former Democratic House member from Shelby and a registered lobbyist for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina.
"There's just some crazy legislation that comes through. You have to be on guard for it. People are bone weary and ready to go home."
Some of the hardest decisions and toughest negotiations are saved for the last days, and this year the schedule is groaning with criminal justice proposals.
Senate Democrats are talking among themselves about trying to pass a measure aimed at addressing racial bias in death penalty cases. The House has already passed a bill that would allow murder defendants to use statistical evidence to suggest that race is a significant factor in prosecutors' seeking the death penalty or in juries' imposing it.
The state NAACP president is prodding senators to approve the measure.
If Senate Democrats move forward with it, Republicans see a chance to get something they've been fighting for -- a provision that may allow the state to resume executions.
Executions have been stalled for more than a year partly because the Department of Correction cannot find doctors who will take part in them, as the law requires. Last year, the N.C. Medical Board adopted an ethics policy that forbids doctors from doing anything more than being present at executions.
Sen. Phil Berger, the chamber's Republican leader, said the racial bias bill may allow the GOP to add a proposal that frees medical personnel to participate in executions without fear of disciplinary action.
If Republicans succeed in attaching their death penalty proposal, the Senate is likely to approve overriding the Medical Board's execution policy, senators said. For death penalty opponents, that complicates the fight.
The Rev. William Barber, state NAACP president, doesn't want the two issues combined.
"It should stand alone," he said. "This is about people dying simply because of their race."
The N.C. Conference of District Attorneys doesn't want statistics to play a role in death penalty cases. "The DAs really think it's an inappropriate element to put into the death penalty process," said Peg Dorer, conference director. The measure would open the way for "statisticians to come in and testify and manipulate statistics," Dorer said.
Gang compromise
Though the death penalty proposals would have a way to go before becoming law, legislators are nearing a final vote on a bill setting out penalties for gang activity.
Anti-gang legislation has become a big issue this year, largely because of two recent high-profile killings that so far have not been confirmed as gang related. Eve Carson, president of UNC-Chapel Hill's student body, and Abhijit Mahato, a Duke University graduate student, were shot in separate incidents.
The House and Senate passed bills that make it a crime to recruit gang members or retaliate against someone who leaves a gang. Property gained or used in gang activity could be seized or forfeited.
The Senate removed provisions that the House included that would allow some reformed gang members who were younger than 18 at the time of their convictions to expunge gang activity from their records, and spare those under 16 from being charged with gang crimes.
House and Senate negotiators said they have a compromise.
"It gives more severe punishment to adults who get kids in the gangs," said Rep. Dan Blue, a Raleigh Democrat. "It's trying to have some effort to reform juveniles who may have gotten caught up with them."
Bullying and gays
One holdover bill from last year is still burning this session -- a proposal intended to protect children from school bullying. The House and Senate passed different versions, with the House including students perceived to be gay on a list of children who are likely targets for bullies.
The head of the Christian Action League, the Rev. Mark Creech, asked supporters to fight the House version because "it would essentially require North Carolina public schools to teach these behaviors are normal and perfectly acceptable."
Rep. Rick Glazier, a Fayetteville Democrat, said Creech distorts the bill's meaning.
"The bill solely says it is to protect children from bullying -- nothing that requires teaching of lifestyle, religion, or any particular life choice," Glazier said.
(Staff writer Thomas Goldsmith contributed to this report.)