North Carolina Criminal Law

In Grady v. North Carolina, 135 S. Ct. 1368 (2015), the Supreme Court held that North Carolina’s satellite-based monitoring regime for sex offenders is a search, but left it to […]

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Laboratory expenses for analysis of controlled substances used to be ordered as restitution. Since 2002, they have been a court cost. There is a difference.

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The North Carolina Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission recently released its biennial Correctional Program Evaluation—known better as the Recidivism Report. The report, prepared in conjunction with the Division of Adult […]

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For felony sentencing, a defendant’s criminal history is scored as a “prior record level.” The analogous measure for misdemeanor sentencing is “prior conviction level.” There are important differences between the […]

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In my last post I wrote about some of the statutory options for providing relief from various criminal legal financial obligations. Several of my “friends” gave me a hard time […]

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Not all types of relief from a criminal monetary obligation trigger the statutory requirements for notice, hearing, and findings.

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There need not be a violation for the court to modify probation.

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Knowing when probation begins is generally pretty easy. Figuring out when it ends can be a little trickier.

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This morning Jamie Markham and I loaded a passenger van with a group of district court judges who had come to the SOG for a week-long orientation course. We hauled […]

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Spring is just around the corner. Daffodils. Daylight saving time. Filling out your bracket. And reading the annual Structured Sentencing Statistical Report for Felonies and Misdemeanors from the North Carolina Sentencing […]

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