Sentencing Commission Annual Statistical Report

A defense lawyer from another state recently asked me if it was possible to get probation for involuntary manslaughter in North Carolina. It is apparently possible but uncommon in his state, so he was looking to other jurisdictions to craft a sentencing argument in favor of a non-incarcerative sentence for his client. Within seconds, I was able to tell him that 38 percent of involuntary manslaughter convictions in North Carolina were sentenced to probation last year. He couldn’t believe I had that sort of information on hand. I told him that it came from the annual statistical report prepared by the North Carolina Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission. I didn’t send him the link to the full report, for fear that it would blow his mind. But surely readers of this blog can handle it. Officially titled the Structured Sentencing Statistical Report for Felonies and Misdemeanors, it’s a gold mine of data. It includes information that strikes me as valuable to many different groups, for many different purposes. Anyone who reads this blog would be interested in the the two-page summary (p. iv–v) that opens the report. There you can learn (among other things) that of the 28,000 felony convictions in North Carolina in Fiscal Year 2011/12: 44 percent were Class H felonies. 85 percent were for male defendants. 50 percent were for Black defendants. 5 percent were sentenced in the aggravated range. 30 percent were ordered to pay restitution. Some other data highlights sprinkled throughout the report: December and June are [...]