A UNC School of Government Blog
The Justice Reinvestment Act became law in 2011. S.L. 2011-192. Even before its initial effective date it was amended in 2011 by a technical corrections act. S.L. 2011-412. It was amended again by a clarifications act in 2012, making the changes described here. S.L. 2012-188. Two weeks ago it was amended yet again, effective (in … Read more
My colleagues have published several new papers recently, so I thought I would take a moment to highlight them. Judicial misconduct. In April, Michael Crowell published What Gets Judges in Trouble, which provides an overview of the procedures for disciplining judges, summarizes statistical information about complaints of judicial misconduct, and identifies the types of misconduct … Read more
Most search warrants are obtained before anyone has been charged with a crime. But sometimes officers will charge a defendant and then decide to obtain a search warrant to seek additional evidence. In such a case, may investigators still obtain a search warrant from a magistrate, or does a magistrate lose jurisdiction over the case … Read more
The front page of the News and Observer today reports that Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer May-Parker has been nominated by President Obama to serve as a federal district judge in the Eastern District of North Carolina. Jennifer was one of the prosecutors I faced in my first federal jury trial. She is smart, professional, … Read more
Rule 45. This rule surprised me. Before I learned about it, I assumed that when a party sought to introduce hospital medical records at trial, a records custodian appeared in court to testify that the records met the requirements for the business records hearsay exception. Turns out, however, that because of this rule, custodians of … Read more
I’ve been asked several times recently whether people who are not sworn law-enforcement officers may apply for search warrants. Somewhat to my surprise, the answer is yes. Statutory analysis. For starters, the search warrant statutes themselves suggest that anyone may apply. The statutes repeatedly refer to “the applicant” in generic terms. By contrast, they specify … Read more
My last post discussed the applicability of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) to North Carolina’s jails. Today’s post looks at the substantive standards themselves. These are the standards with which state prisons must comply to avoid the state losing five percent of certain federal grant funds, and with which local jails may have to … Read more
I have been getting many questions lately about the applicability and impact of the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act, or PREA. Specifically, people want to know the extent to which the law and its accompanying regulatory standards apply to local jails. This post provides some background on PREA and then discusses its applicability and enforceability. … Read more
The Racial Justice Act is nearing repeal. Both chambers of the General Assembly have passed S 306, an omnibus capital punishment bill that does away with the Act. Governor McCrory has previously criticized the Act, so a veto is not likely. The News and Observer editorializes against the repeal here. Assuming that the Act is … Read more
Forget all your legal training. Pretend you are a juror in a DWI case. Facts. The following facts were established at trial: The defendant was stopped at a checkpoint. The officer smelled alcohol and defendant admitted that he had consumed two glasses of wine earlier in the evening. No field sobriety tests were administered, and … Read more