March 3, 2009
When it comes to imprisoning their citizens, dictators have nothing on NC
Over at the UNC School of Government’s excellent new North Carolina Criminal Law blog, they’ve noted that the Tar Heel state actually comes across rather well in the important new report on U.S. incarceration rates from the Pew Center on the States:
The numbers in North Carolina are still large: about 1 in every 110 adults in North Carolina is in prison, and 1 in 58 is on probation. But we rank 29th in incarceration rate, 30th in probation rate, and 31st in overall correctional control rate, all below average. Furthermore, our correctional control growth rate over the past 20 years has been slower than the national …
March 1, 2009
Happy International Death Penalty Abolition Day! Six reasons to end NC’s death penalty
Today is International Death Penalty Abolition Day, which occurs on March 1 to mark the day in 1846 that Michigan abolished its death penalty, thereby becoming the first jurisdiction in the English-speaking world to do away with capital punishment. One hundred sixty three years later, however, capital prosecutions remain common in North Carolina. Even with a de facto temporary moratorium on executions, the Attorney General’s office continues to litigate death penalty cases aggressively at the postconviction level.
With the moratorium’s end now on the horizon, and with legislation introduced last month in the General Assembly that would exempt individuals who suffered from severe mental illness from execution, it’s an apt …
February 19, 2009
YouTube’s Salvia freak out tour lands in Raleigh
Are a bunch of college kids posting dopey videos on YouTube going to be making drug enforcement and sentencing policy in North Carolina? If state Sen. Bill Purcell (D-Laurinburg) has his way, they basically will. As reported in Tuesday’s News & Observer, Purcell is sponsoring a bill to make Salvia divinorum — a hallucinogenic herb that is part of the mint family — a Schedule I drug.
Under North Carolina anti-drug statutes, Schedules I and II are supposedly reserved for the worst drugs — like heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine — and prescribe the stiffest penalties for those caught possessing, selling or manufacturing them. (Marijuana is a lowly Schedule VI.) …
September 6, 2008
A legal black hole at the county jail
In response to swelling anti-immigrant hysteria across North Carolina, state law enforcement officials in seven counties and one city have signed up to use their own resources to help the federal government identify and deport undocumented immigrants. So-called "287(g) agreements" with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), authorize certain officers in local police and sheriff's departments to enforce federal immigration laws. Immigrants' rights advocates have principally criticized 287(g) agreements by arguing that they pose a serious threat to public safety: After all, if the police are going to fight crime effectively, they need the public's trust and cooperation. And it's pretty hard to convince undocumented immigrants to report …
August 21, 2008
Lawson plea highlights need to challenge underage drinking laws
On Tuesday, UNC point guard Ty Lawson pleaded guilty to underage drinking and driving. Lawson, who was 20 at the time of his arrest, blew a .03 on a roadside breath test – less than half the .08 limit for drivers aged 21 and over. As part of his punishment, Lawson was forced to write a degrading essay reacting to "Smashed," an anti-underage drinking propaganda flick:
It made me think of how lucky I am that nothing bad happened that night to me or to anyone else. Drinking and driving do not mix. Nothing good ever happens when someone drinks and then gets behind the wheel and drives.
Like a defendant in some Stalin …
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