2020 Sentencing Commission Statistical Report Available

Correctional statistics have been in the news as we consider the impact of the coronavirus on our jails, prisons, and supervised populations. This week the Secretary of Public Safety announced a decision to extend the limits of confinement for certain categories of inmates under G.S. 148-4 (the general plan is outlined here). That (in conjunction with the existing moratorium on new entries) caused the prison population to fall throughout the week. Advocates continue to push for broader releases. But today’s post isn’t about what’s happening now to get certain inmates out of prison. Instead, it’s a review of the last year’s worth of data on how those inmates got there in the first place. The North Carolina Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission recently published its annual Structured Sentencing Statistical Report for Felonies and Misdemeanors. Here are the highlights. This year’s report, available here, covers sentencing episodes from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019. Quick facts for felonies are available here, and for misdemeanors here. As always, remember that the report is based on sentencing episodes, defined as the most serious conviction for a defendant on a given day of court. There were 28,526 felony sentencing episodes (down from 29,623 last year) and 88,048 misdemeanor episodes (down from 92,855 last year). Misdemeanor convictions have declined to about half of what they were a decade ago. Most common grid cell. As usual, Class H/Level II was the most frequently used of the 60 cells on the felony grid. It accounted for 3,264 [...]