Administration of Justice Bulletin #2024/01

During the 2023 legislative session, the North Carolina General Assembly made significant changes to the state’s pretrial release laws in a bill informally known as the "Pretrial Integrity Act."1 Its provisions, which took effect on October 1, 2023, most notably limit magistrates' authority to set conditions of release for defendants arrested for a new offense while on pretrial release and for defendants charged with certain high-level felony offenses, and makes pretrial release for defendants charged with the same high-level offenses discretionary. This bulletin details the newly enacted changes, how they are affected by different charging documents, the impact of the new provisions on existing pretrial release laws, and potential challenges in implementation.