Another New Conditional Discharge: Threats and False Reports of Mass Violence

By the end of the year, we’ll have another type of conditional discharge to add to the list collected in my previous post. The new conditional discharge is for certain defendants convicted of communicating threats of mass violence on educational property or at a place of worship, or for making a false report concerning mass violence on educational property. Session Law 2018-72 created two new communicating threats crimes, communicating a threat of mass violence on educational property (G.S. 14-277.6) and communicating a threat of mass violence at a place of religious worship (G.S. 14-277.7). Those crimes are effective for offenses committed on or after December 1, 2018. The same legislation that created those crimes also added new G.S. 14-277.8, providing for a conditional discharge for certain defendants convicted of the new crimes or the existing crime of making a false report concerning mass violence on educational property (G.S. 14-277.5). Eligible defendants are those who are less than 20 years old at the time of the offense and who have no previous convictions of any felony or misdemeanor other than a traffic violation. It is unclear whether the new conditional discharge is mandatory or discretionary. Subsection (a) points toward mandatory, saying the court “shall” defer further proceedings and enter a conditional discharge when an eligible defendant is convicted and the defendant and the district attorney consent. Subsection (b), on the other hand, says the court defers proceedings “in its discretion.” The likely intent was to create a conditional discharge that the court [...]