In this earlier blog post, I provided a then-current overview of criminal law and related legislation enacted by the North Carolina General Assembly this legislative session. Since then, there have been a few more bills enacted that affect criminal law, criminal procedure, and motor vehicle law, as well as some amendments to previously enacted bills.
Now that the General Assembly has adjourned, you can read summaries of all of the criminal law and related legislation here. Each summary provides a brief description of the act in question along with a link to the text of the act and, where available, links to blogs my colleagues and I wrote. As usual, the legislation spans a range of topics.
Here is a sample of the criminal and related laws enacted by the General Assembly this session:
- new crimes, such as possession of credit card skimming devices (S.L. 2021-68), larceny of law enforcement equipment from law enforcement vehicles (S.L. 2021-167), and misuse of elected office for personal financial gain (S.L. 2021-191);
- changes to court procedures, such as authorization of remote proceedings (S.L. 2021-47) and remote forensic testimony (S.L. 2021-180), regulation of the service and release of alternate jurors (S.L. 2021-94), and requiring first appearances for defendants charged with misdemeanors and held in custody (S.L. 2021-138, as amended by S.L. 2021-182);
- expansion of expunction eligibility for certain misdemeanors and felonies (S.L. 2021-118, as amended by S.L. 2021-167);
- changes to Raise the Age (S.L. 2021-118);
- substantial amendments to the satellite-based monitoring law in response to constitutional issues (S.L. 2021-138); and
- several changes to motor vehicle laws, including updates to ignition interlock laws (S.L. 2021-182) and prohibition of the “Carolina Squat” (S.L. 2021-128).
The General Assembly will reconvene on December 30 with a limited agenda, and then again in the new year on January 3, 2022 to take up unfinished business. In the meantime, if I missed or misstated anything in the document, please feel free to email me at bwilliams@sog.unc.edu.