The Under Supervision Bonus Point for Sentencing

Yesterday’s post was about the prior record point that applies when all the elements of the offense being sentenced are included in one of the defendant’s prior offenses. Today’s post is about the other sentencing bonus point, which applies when the offense being sentenced was committed while the defendant was on probation, parole, or post-release supervision; while he or she was serving a sentence of imprisonment; or while he or she was on escape from a correctional institution. G.S. 15A-1340.14(b)(7). I usually refer to the second point as the “under supervision” bonus point. Like the same elements point, the idea behind the under supervision point is straightforward. You committed another crime before you even finished your sentence in a prior case. We’re going to punish you a little more severely this time. For the under supervision bonus point to apply, the defendant must have been under one of the types of supervision or confinement set out in the statute at the time of the offense being sentenced. Though the statute uses words common to the criminal and juvenile systems, it appears that only the criminal (that is, adult) versions can qualify a defendant for the additional point. For example, the court of appeals held in State v. Tucker that a defendant was not eligible for the point when being sentenced for a crime committed while he was in training school. 154 N.C. App. 653 (2002). The court concluded that training school was not a “sentence of imprisonment” within the language of [...]