March 26, 2018
Organizations around the country have called for bail reform. Here at home, a report by the North Carolina Commission on the Administration of Law and Justice recommended that North Carolina […]
November 13, 2017
This question in the title of this post came up in a recent class. The specific context involved a domestic violence defendant who was in jail waiting for a judge […]
July 6, 2017
“Arrest on first positive drug screen. $50,000 secured bond.” “Hold without bond for any probation violation.” May a judge sentencing a defendant to probation include instructions such as these in […]
May 4, 2017
The decision, handed down April 28, 2017, comes out of Harris County, home to Houston, Texas. If you decide to read the opinion, ODonnell v. Harris County, be prepared to […]
November 19, 2015
In the 2015 legislative session, the General Assembly made two significant changes to the pretrial release statutes: (1) it effectively repealed a “bond doubling” provision for defendants rearrested while on […]
February 25, 2015
[Author’s Note: This post has been substantively edited to make corrections in response to helpful comments from readers.] A person generally may not lawfully be arrested unless there is probable […]
March 19, 2014
Last session, the General Assembly added a new subsection to the principal pretrial release statute, G.S. 15A-534. The new provision took effect on December 1, 2013, and has proven to […]
February 4, 2013
Magistrates walk a tight rope of sorts in setting conditions of pretrial release for defendants charged with impaired driving offenses. In addition to taking into account all of the factors […]
July 17, 2012
Five years ago, the General Assembly authorized judges to require that defendants placed on probation for a Level One or Level Two impaired driving offense abstain from consuming alcohol for […]
January 19, 2012
In the last in this series of posts on pretrial release I’ll address two issues that continue to create problems for judicial officials: defendants who refuse to identify themselves and […]