North Carolina Criminal Law

The trial court’s order regarding sex offender registration and satellite-based monitoring (SBM) in State v. Johnson was wrong in part. But also right in part. But ultimately wrong.

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Since 2009, all North Carolina probationers are subject to a regular condition of probation allowing warrantless searches of their person, vehicle, and premises by a probation officer. Under legislation passed […]

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Special probation is just the statutory term for a split sentence, right? Right. Usually. Did you know there’s another “special probation” tucked away in Chapter 90?

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Later this week, a group of superior court judges will gather at the School of Government to participate in a course on handling capital cases. In preparation for my role […]

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When imposing a split sentence, the court has a choice to make about what to do with whatever pretrial jail credit the defendant might have in the case. Apply it […]

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Consecutive sentences can be madness. Today’s post will—I hope—give you a championship-caliber understanding of how they are administered.

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Last week, the Supreme Court of the United States decided Moore v. Texas, the third major case the Court has decided about intellectual disability (formerly, mental retardation) and the death […]

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Last week, a group of clerks of superior court visited the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women and the Combined Records section of the Department of Public Safety. The tours […]

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The School of Government is a nonpartisan, non-advocacy institution. That’s a tradition I take seriously. If you can find something in the nearly 400 blog posts I’ve written here since […]

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This blog is full of posts about the laws governing sentencing for misdemeanor DWI. Until now, however, I haven’t written much about how DWIs are actually sentenced. That’s because I […]

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