North Carolina
Implementing the Strategy
| October 11, 2011: Congressional Staff Briefing on Justice Reinvestment in Ohio and North Carolina. |
Since 1994, when it established a structured sentencing system, NC has long been considered a model state for its approach to managing the capacity of its prison system. Increasing numbers of probation revocations and various sentence enhancements have since increased the pressure on the prison system. Recently, the General Assembly received a projection forecasting a 10 percent growth in the prison population, or about 3,900 inmates, by 2020.
In 2009, the governor, chief justice and legislative leaders requested intensive technical assistance from the Council of State Governments Justice Center, in partnership with Pew Center on the States and Bureau of Justice Assistance. These policymakers sought to use a justice reinvestment approach to reduce spending on corrections and reinvest in strategies to increase public safety.
Detailed analyses conducted by the CSG Justice Center found that only 15 percent of people leaving prison were released to the community with supervision; most people completed their sentence while in prison and many high-risk offenders returned to the community unwatched. Furthermore, community-based treatment programs were not targeted towards the people who would most likely benefit from them, minimizing the public safety impact of these scarce resources.
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| Rep. W. David Guice (R-Transylvania) a key author of North Carolina’s Justice Reinvestment Act |
With the guidance of an inter-branch working group established by the governor and state leaders, CSG Justice Center staff developed a set of policy options designed to address gaps in the state’s sentencing, supervision and treatment systems. State legislators translated those options into House Bill 642, The Justice Reinvestment Act.
The proposed law created a new habitual breaking and entering offense and required post-release supervision for everyone convicted of a felony. Recognizing that HB 642 would place increased demands on probation, the bill also required supervision resources to be focused on high-risk individuals and empowered probation officers to implement swift and certain sanctions. In addition, the law closed a loophole that people used to serve short stints in prison so they could avoid community supervision altogether. It concentrated on reducing recidivism, focusing limited available treatment resources on people who would benefit the most from them. The legislation also provided incentives for offenders who participate in programs and expanded the existing felony drug diversion program.
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| Governor Bev Perdue signing the North Carolina Justice Reinvestment Act |
The Justice Reinvestment Act passed with overwhelming, near-unanimous bipartisan support. Joined by enthusiastic supporters from local government, including sheriffs and other criminal justice stakeholders, Governor Bev Perdue signed the bill into law on June 23. As a result of the new law, the state expects not only to avert the projected increase in prison population, but also to save more than 3,600 beds by FY 2017. The reduction in the population translates into more than $290 million saved over the next six years. These savings positioned the state to reinvest more than $4 million annually to expand community-based treatment programs for people on supervision.