State v. C.K.D.: Knoll What?
I have written before about the cache associated with a handful of unpublished opinions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Sure, they aren’t binding, but they can be persuasive. […]
The Violent Crime Rate in North Carolina Was Down Again in 2022
The national crime rate continues to attract a lot of media attention, but I haven’t seen much on North Carolina-specific crime data. In late 2022, I wrote about the violent […]
Congratulations to Newly Certified Magistrates
Magistrates are often referred to as the “first face” of the judicial system for most citizens. They serve the public with professionalism, all while keeping abreast of the rapidly changing […]
News Roundup
Bankman-Fried sentencing. Regular readers know that I’m interested in the criminal case against Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the fallen cryptocurrency exchange FTX. I even read a book about Bankman-Fried, which […]
New Projects in Policing & Responding: Evaluating the Impact of Alternative Responses to Crisis Calls
In partnership with the North Carolina Association of Chiefs of Police and local stakeholders, the UNC School of Government Criminal Justice Innovation Lab (the Lab) is conducting two evaluations of […]
Addressing Substance Use Disorders Through Delinquency Dispositions
The Juvenile Code authorizes 14 different dispositional alternatives for delinquency cases that result in Level 1 dispositions and 23 different dispositional alternatives for delinquency cases that result in Level 2 […]
When (and If) an Order for Arrest Should Issue after Dismissal to the Grand Jury
It is no secret that probable cause hearings are rare throughout North Carolina, despite clear provisions for conducting them in the general statutes. See G.S. 15A-606, 611-614. The reasons for […]
News Roundup
Raleigh police are offering rewards for information leading to suspects in two unsolved hit and run cases from late last year, according to this piece. One of the incidents occurred […]
Case Summaries: N.C. Court of Appeals (Feb. 20, 2024)
This post summarizes the published criminal opinions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals released on February 20, 2024. These summaries will be added to Smith’s Criminal Case Compendium, a […]
New Project Supporting & Evaluating Implementation of Holistic Public Defense in North Carolina
In a new project launched in January 2024, the UNC School of Government Criminal Justice Innovation Lab (the Lab) is partnering with the North Carolina Office of Indigent Defense Services […]