North Carolina Criminal Law Blog

Can a concealed carry permit holder carry a concealed handgun in a park? On a playground? The legislature has changed the law in this area twice in recent years and […]

2013 NC legislation, S.L. 2013-368, overhauled the state’s prostitution offenses. It repealed G.S. 14‑190.18 (promoting prostitution of minor), 14‑190.19 (participating in prostitution of minor), 14‑204.1 (loitering for prostitution), 14‑205 (prosecution […]

A registered sex offender may not knowingly reside within 1,000 feet of a school or child care center. G.S. 14-208.16. That restriction was enacted in 2006, S.L. 2006-247, and applies […]

No doubt in response to funeral protests by groups like Westboro Baptist Church, in 2006 NC amended its disorderly conduct statute, G.S. 14-288.4, adding a provision prohibiting disorderly conduct at […]

The court of appeals’ decision last January in State v. McKenzie was big news in the DWI world. The state’s intermediate appellate court held the one-year disqualification of a defendant’s […]

When a person is arrested while in possession of drugs and is taken to the jail in handcuffs, may the person properly be convicted of possessing drugs in a confinement […]

Over the years I’ve been asked a bunch of times whether forced self-penetration constitutes a “sexual act” supporting a conviction for forcible sexual offense. Until recently, we had no clear […]

School started back this week across the state, which means that many school buses are traveling the roadways. Buses in my neighborhood hit the pavement early—one drove by this morning […]

I recently finished an Administration of Justice Bulletin about the habitual felon, violent habitual felon, and habitual breaking and entering laws. It’s a substantial expansion and revision of a paper […]

North Carolina’s ban on accessing commercial social networking sites by sex offenders is unconstitutional on its face, the court of appeals held this morning in State v. Packingham. Under G.S. […]