Spring Break Sentencing Reading List

I was on spring break last week, which meant I had lots of time for uninterrupted reading while my kids entertained themselves at the pool. Okay, maybe not. Despite being on the go, I made time to read three new publications from the North Carolina Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission. They are well worth a look to anyone who reads this blog. The first publication is the annual Structured Sentencing Statistical Report for Felonies and Misdemeanors (FY 2012/13). I look forward to it each spring in the same way I look forward to pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training. Like last year’s report (which I reviewed here), it’s chock full of enough data to keep Bill James busy. This year’s installment is especially interesting in that it’s the first report for which a majority of the sentences covered (64 percent of felonies and 82 percent of misdemeanors) have offense dates after December 1, 2011, and are thus governed by the post–Justice Reinvestment Act sentencing laws. It’s interesting to see what has changed under the new law, and what hasn’t. For example, the dispositional slash line for felonies (percent Active/Intermediate/Community) is 39/32/29, which is somewhat of a departure from last year’s 41/41/18. Some people (including me, to be honest) had thought the percentage of Active sentences might increase in light of the substantial limits on judges’ authority to revoke probation, on the theory that judges might be less inclined to put some defendants on probation if they couldn't get them off [...]