North Carolina Criminal Law Blog

This weekend, the New York Times carried an article entitled Risky Rise of the Good Grade Pill. The piece concerns the abuse of certain prescription medications by high school and […]

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The Fourth Circuit recently rejected a vagueness challenge to the federal stalking statute. Because of the similarity between the federal statute and North Carolina’s stalking law, I thought the decision […]

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In a post here, Jeff updated you on the dueling superior court decisions on whether G.S.14-306.4—the internet sweepstakes ban—is constitutional or not. The Court of Appeals recently resolved the conflict, […]

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There’s a popular video game — or really, series of video games — called Grand Theft Auto. And many states have a crime called grand theft auto, or have some […]

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I’ll willing to bet that most of you sang these lyrics as a child: “You put your right hand in, You put your right hand out, You put your right […]

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Misdemeanor death by vehicle is defined in G.S. 20-141.4(a2) as (1) unintentionally causing the death of another person (2) while violating a State law or local ordinance applying to the […]

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Now that Christmas is over, Santa’s cases are coming on for trial. He’s accused of multiple counts of burglary. We already know the facts: He entered dwellings at night, using […]

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In a post here, I listed my top five indictment errors. The number one error was misstating the victim’s name in an indictment charging larceny or a related crime interfering […]

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It’s the end of the year. The criminal justice system is slowing down a little bit for the holidays, but other activity is ramping up. For many parents, making a […]

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A caller recently asked me whether it is a crime to use gang signs. First, some background. According to one gang expert, “each gang has their own gang hand signs […]

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