NC DOT has published its analysis of data regarding vehicle crashes during the spread of COVID-19 throughout our state. The results may surprise you.
News Roundup
Threads of the modern American experience that for months have been pulled with increasing tension came together as the fuse for an explosion of violence this week on the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin, where a teenager from Illinois armed with an assault rifle killed two people and wounded a third while acting as a vigilante property guard during protests arising from another officer-involved shooting of a black man. As it was with the officer-involved shooting, the protest shootings instantly were broadcast into the public sphere from the cellphone cameras of onlookers, and as it has been with so much of this turbulent summer, assessments of fault are sharply divided. Keep reading for more on this story and other news.
Elder Abuse Workshop at the School of Government
How does elder abuse show up in your community?
How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected how that abuse happens or how local professionals respond to it?
A new opportunity to address these concerns is opening up September 9th.
How Long Does it Take to Process a Criminal Case in North Carolina?
The Criminal Justice Innovation Lab recently released a report analyzing disposition and pending case times for North Carolina criminal cases. The full report is here. In this blog post, I discuss our findings regarding statewide disposition times as compared to Benchmarks developed by the National Center for State Courts (NCSC). As we explain in the report, the North Carolina Commission on the Administration of Law & Justice recommended that North Carolina examine its current case processing time guidelines using the NCSC Benchmarks as a guide. We thus compared North Carolina disposition times against those metrics. As discussed below, statewide median disposition times in district and superior court, for all case types, fell short of the NCSC Benchmarks.
Update on Emergency Directives
During the COVID-19 outbreak, Chief Justice Cheri Beasley has exercised her authority under G.S. 7A-39(b)(2) to issue orders imposing 22 emergency directives to ensure the continuing operation of the courts. Such emergency orders expire no later than 30 days from their issuance, though they may be renewed for additional 30-day periods. Because the orders imposing the directives were issued on differing dates, they have expired and have been renewed on differing schedules. The Chief Justice entered the latest renewal order
yesterday. This post will review the directives that are currently in place, including those related to the eventual resumption of jury trials.
Race and Ethnicity in Juvenile Justice: North Carolina’s Numbers
With the work of the Governor’s Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice under way, it is timely to consider the issue of racial equity in the juvenile justice system. Issues of racial and ethnic disproportionality and disparity in juvenile justice have been discussed and studied in juvenile justice systems across the country for decades, as federal juvenile justice funding for states has long been tied to their study. See the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s Racial and Ethnic Disparities page for more information on the federal requirement.
North Carolina’s most recent study, Disproportionate Minority Contact in North Carolina: An Assessment Study (hereinafter “Assessment Study”), funded by the Governor’s Crime Commission and authored by Stan Orchowsky, Ph.D. of Cambiare Consulting and Michael Leiber, Ph.D., and Chae Jaynes, Ph.D., of the University of South Florida, was released in June of 2019. The findings reveal that, while there is significant local variation across counties in North Carolina, youth of color are represented throughout the juvenile justice system in far greater numbers than they are represented in the general population. These disparities are most profound at the very front door of the juvenile justice system and at the deepest end of the system in secure confinement. They are also most profound for Black youth.
News Roundup
The criminal cases against Greg Lindberg and Robin Hayes arising from their attempt to bribe State Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey to give favorable treatment to Lindberg’s insurance business have been regular topics in the News Roundup over the past year. Lindberg was convicted by a jury earlier this year and Hayes pleaded guilty last year. As the Charlotte Observer reports, both men were in federal court this week for sentencing. Keep reading for more on this story and other news.
Case Summaries – N.C. Court of Appeals (August 18, 2020)
This post summarizes opinions issued by the North Carolina Court of Appeals on August 18, 2020.
Case Summaries – N.C. Supreme Court (August 14, 2020)
This post summarizes opinions issued by the Supreme Court of North Carolina on August 14, 2020.
Case Summaries: Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (July 2020)
This post summarizes published criminal law and related decisions from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decided in July, 2020.