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North Carolina's
Legislative Criminal Justice Policy Brief
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Tainted but Alive,
Racial Justice Act Passes NC Senate Floor
The Senate version of the NC Racial Justice Act - Senate Bill 461 - passed the Senate floor on May 14, 2009. Unfortunately, excitement about its passage was put on hold when Republican leaders amended the bill to restart executions which only eleven legislators tried to block. Additional amendments also reduced the use of statewide statistical evidence to judicial divisions before sending it to the House chamber.
Last week, NC NAACP President Dr. William J. Barber, II, pictured above with other supporters, stated that North Carolinians 'are not vampires and we should not be in that much of a hurry to execute people.' While court cases have placed executions on hold in North Carolina for nearly two years, supporters of the NC Racial Justice Act have asked state legislators to pass legislation that address flaws within the current death penalty system. For two years, supporters were threatened with the chance to restart executions if such reforms were to also pass and were left with only the 'moratorium'.
 In 2003, moratorium supporters fought for a temporarily legislative-pause in executions to study flaws within the death penalty and to pass reforms. While the Senate passed a moratorium bill in April 2003, a pause for reforms was not signed into law. Yet a House study was granted that allowed for the birth of bills such as the NC Racial Justice Act and Proportionality Review. Six years later, we have had a court-imposed pause in executions and still no real look or attempt to pass death penalty reforms.
The original intent of the NC Racial Justice Act is to reduce racial bias in North Carolina's capital punishment system. Under the original bill, a defendant has the options of raising a racial bias claim within the initial stages of being charged with a capital offense with a pretrial hearing or after being sentenced by use of a postconviction appeal. A defendant can also utilize statewide statistics to prove that race was a significant factor in the decision to sentence him/her to death over a lesser sentence. This Act would be available for persons of any race who feel that race was a significant factor in their sentencing.
The Carolina Justice Policy Center is working with numerous other organizations and supporters to restore the NC Racial Justice Act back to its original intent. A strong Racial Justice Act includes the use of statewide statistics without unrelated amendments to restart executions before reforms are passed.
North Carolina's death row is nearly 60% Black. A study on Race and the Death Penalty by University of North Carolina professor Isac Unah and current law school dean Jack Boger found that black defendants whose victims are white are 3.5 times more likely to receive death than those with non-white victims. In 2008 alone, three Black men were freed from North Carolina's death row due to wrongful convictions.
(Header Photo: Media with People of Faith Against the Death Penalty Director Steve Dear, NC NAACP President Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, NC Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation Coordinator John Comer, 19-Year Prison Exoneree Darryl Hunt & CJPC Director Charmaine Fuller)
(Insert Photo: Lao Rubert, CJPC Senior Director of Policy & Special Projects with Darryl Hunt, Darryl Hunt Freedom & Jail Project)
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No Revenue in Sight
Eliminations & Cuts Announced by House
 More budget reduction options were distributed last week as the NC House struggles to meet budget targets that are 8% below previously presented Senate levels. To make matters worse, the House is trying to meet these targets without any revenue options.
A total of $371 million must be cut from the original continuation budget in the Justice and Public Safety Committee alone. The great bulk of those cuts must be taken from corrections because that is where most of the money is spent.
Those figures reflect:
* 9.6% LESS than the 2008-09 authorized budget
* 14.3% LESS than the 09-10 continuation budget
* 9.2% LESS than the Governor's 09-10 budget
* 7.8% LESS than the 09-10 Senate budget
While efforts are in motion to expand probation, eliminations and cuts are recommended for virtually all of the community-based corrections programs that work together with supervised probationers to provide some level of rehabilitative services. These cuts will obliterate any attempt to provide rehabilitative options in our communities.
Community-based Corrections Programs Save $$$
Community-based corrections programs are saving the state millions right now and could help the state save much more, but not if they aren't funded. A revenue package must be included in the House budget and it's time to let your legislators know if you support a revenue package - one that does not harm low and middle income families - in order to maintain critical services.
Possible cuts announced this week:
Community-Based Corrections Programs
*ELIMINATE the Criminal Justice Partnership Program - $9.4 mil
*ELIMINATE (Gov) or REDUCE (Senate) Sentencing Services - $283,029 (reduction) OR $2.8 mil (elimination)
*ELIMINATE Drug Treatment Court - $1.952 mil
*ELIMINATE Women at Risk - $350,000
*ELIMINATE Harriet's House - $275,000
*ELIMINATE Summit House - $1.2 mil
*ELIMINATE Family Court - $2.8 mil
*ELIMINATE Dispute Mediation - $1.6 mil
*ELIMINATE Substance Abuse Program for Female Probationers - $1.8
Prison Programs
*ELIMINATE Pass-through funding: Our Children's Place - $146,000
*ELIMINATE Substance Abuse Contract Beds - $5.3
*ELIMINATE Work Crews - $4.7
*ELIMINATE Community Service Work Program and have probation officers assume those duties (an impossible task in addition to their current duties) - $4.9 mil
*UTILIZE Inmate Welfare funds for operations
These eliminations are in addition to closing the following prisons: McCain, Wilmington, Guilford, Umstead, Gates, Haywood, Union, Cleveland.
Most of the prison programs slated for closing have long been on a list of old and inefficient units, so closing them can be a positive step if other resources are in place. Those resources could include changes in Sentencing laws that make it possible to work appropriately with people in the community. Appropriate medical care needs to be in place for the medically disabled prisoners currently housed at McCain.
Prison crowding and recent allegations of prison abuse can make matters worse. While there are a very few units that were designed for double celling, most are not and triple celling should never be considered.
And that's not all, even with the cuts listed above, $64 million still has to come out of the Department of Corrections.
Courts
*ELIMINATE all DA Investigator Positions
*ELIMINATE 20% of Supervisor and Administrator Guardian Ad Litem Positions
*REDUCE VICTIM-WITNESS LEGAL ASSISTANTS FROM 1.35 to 1 for every 2 ADAs
*REMOVE all continuation budget increases in AOC
*Reduce clerks by 10%
Office of Indigent Defense
*ELIMINATE Center for Death Penalty Litigation
*REDUCE Private Attorney fund from by $5 mil - $18.4 mil
*ELIMINATE 20 PD Investigator Positions
*REDUCE Private Attorney contract Rate by $10 - $8,500,000
Juvenile Justice
*ELIMINATE CONTINUATION BUDGET INCREASES - $7.7 mil
*CLOSE Samarkand Youth Development Ctr (YDC)
*CLOSE Dobbs YDC
*ELIMINATE PASS THROUGH TO GOV'S 1 ON 1 - $1.6 MIL
*ELIMINATE PASS THROUGH TO BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB
*REDUCE ECKERD WILDERNESS CAMP RATE - $1.4 MIL
*ELIMINATE Center for Prevention of School Violence - $474,000
*ON THE POSITIVE SIDE - No proposed reduction of JCPC programs.
Again, these are only some of the suggested cuts and similar recommendations are being made across state government. | |
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Stop the Hands of Time from Turning Backwards!
The budget targets and potential budget reductions released this week in the House Justice and Public Safety Committee are unacceptable. They will have the ultimate impact of increasing crime, increasing incarceration and increasing costs. They will roll back the clock on the positive efforts that have been built at the community level for the past three decades.
Legislators must hear from their constituents about the damaging and irreversible consequences of the proposed budget eliminations that have been released.
Here's just a few among those listed above that need your support:
Community Based Programs
These programs are the only ones working at sentencing to provide the court with community-based options that are appropriate for individual offenders.
CJPP works after sentencing to provides substance abuse services, employment assistance and manages Day Reporting Centers.
The only program that organizes both the defense and the prosecution to provide and monitor substance treatment approaches in a courtroom setting for addicted offenders.
Women at Risk, Summit House, Harriet's House
These programs are aimed at the specific needs of female offenders which have long been over-looked.
Provides opportunities to mediate conflicts at the local level without going to Court.
Allows female prisoners to stay with their newborn babies in the first few months of their lives.
Substance abuse contract beds
These are specialized facilities within the prison system that provide genuine substance abuse treatment.
Utilize a Portion of Inmate Welfare Funds
These funds represent the few dollars that inmates have and should not be taken by the state.
Representation of Indigent Defendants
Provides expert consulting resources to practicing attorneys across the state who are representing clients whose lives are at stake because of capital sentences.
Funds for Indigent Representation
The constitution mandates representation by an attorney for indigent defendants. Current budget cuts will mean attorneys will go unpaid for months.
Take Action!Please write a brief and personal e-mail to House leaders and your own legislators to let them know these proposed eliminations in community-based corrections programs must not stand and will set North Carolina back decades:
*Include your name, your county, and the names of program eliminations that concern you *Let them know that the community-based programs that are in jeopardy cost less than $20 million and save more than $100 million. *Let them know that communities will face increased crime without local problems that can help address substance abuse issues and employment needs. *Remind them that each 1,000 bed prison costs $27 million a year to operate and approximately $100 million to construct. Community based programs can save money. *Let leaders know that you support a responsible revenue package that does not target low and middle income people. Even though community-based programs save dollars, proposed cuts are likely to stand without a responsible revenue package. *Forward this e-mail to others and encourage them to contact legislators.
House LeadersSpeaker Joe Hackney
Speaker, House of Representatives
Rep.William Wainwright
Full House Appropriation Chairs
Rep. H. M. Michaux
Senior Chairman
Rep. Alma Adams, Chairman
Rep. Alexander, Chairman
Rep. Crawford, Chairman
Rep. Haire, Chairman
Rep. Jeffus, Chairman
Rep. Tolson, Chairman
Rep. Yongue, Chairman
House Justice & Public Safety Appropriations Committee Members
Rep. Alice Bordsen, Co-Chair
Rep. Jimmy Love, Co-Chair
Rep. Tim Spear, Vice-Chairman
Rep. Ronnie Sutton, Vice-Chairman
Rep. Ray Warren, Vice-Chairman
Rep. Jamie Boles
Rep. Melanie Goodwin
Rep. David Guice
Rep. Pat Hurley
Rep. Darren Jackson
Rep. Carolyn Justus
Rep. Annie Mobley
Rep. Tim Moore
Rep. Shirley Randleman
Rep. Sarah Stevens
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Make Your Voice Heard!
Attend a Town Hall Meeting in Your Area on the Budget Crisis
Together NC, a progressive coalition of nonprofit organizations pushing for a revenue package that doesn't balance the budget on the backs of poor people, has been holding town hall meetings across the state to create a forum for citizens to discuss the historic budget shortfall and proposed cuts that were released last week. It's an opportunity to let elected officials hear about the importance of public programs and services so they can make budget decisions that support communities and families. Meetings have already been held in Fayetteville, Asheville and Elizabeth City. More meetings are scheduled Charlotte, Durham, Rocky Mount and Pittsboro over the next week. Click for details. |
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CJPC in the News
Reports of inmate abuse are flying fast and furious these days. In North Carolina, the sad saga of Timothy Helms has been unfolding for weeks in The News & Observer. It appears guards severely beat Helms, leaving him partially paralyzed. Last week we learned that guards doused the recuperating and wheelchair bound Helms with pepper spray as he rattled a hospital room door at Central Prison.......
Ending disparity in cocaine sentencing laws has support
Some state criminal justice advocates say they would welcome an end to the disparity in federal sentences for crack cocaine and powder cocaine crimes...... Charmaine Fuller, a lobbyist and criminal justice advocate with the Carolina Justice Policy Center in Durham, said the sentencing disparity also depletes state and federal corrections budgets while needlessly filling up prisons. "This 'pseudo-Tough on Crime' policy has led to uncontrollable growth in our federal and state prisons," Fuller said.
NC death penalty opponents rally against restarts
Death penalty opponents plan to stage a demonstration outside North Carolina's General Assembly. The rally on Thursday outside the Legislative building calls on lawmakers to drop a bid to restart executions.....
After a couple of sessions spinning its wheels, the Racial Justice Act (H472/S461) won hearings today in both House and Senate J1. The House vote was close - 6 to 5 - while the Senate margin was a lot healthier. Charmaine Fuller with the Durham nonprofit Carolina Justice Policy Center says the change would provide one more safeguard. "If your skin color is a little bit darker than someone else's, your chances of dying are three and a half times greater... That's a problem within itself."
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Building Knowledge & Finding Help
COMING FALL 2009!
North Carolina's Criminal Justice Resource Directory for Practitioners, Offenders' and Their Families | |
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Death Row Action Alerts
North Carolina
no executions scheduled
Georgia
Upcoming Conferences & Events
Thurs, May 28, 2009
9am
NC Legislature
16 West Jones St
Raleigh, NC
Sat, May 30, 2009
12 noon
Corner of S. Haywood St & E. Cabarrus St,
Raleigh, NC
Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation's Afternoon
feat. Therese Bartholomew
'Coffee Shop God'
Sat, June 13, 2009
3:00pm
Regulator Bookstore
720 Ninth St
Durham, NC
Oct 15-18, 2009
State & National Research Findings
Reallocate Prison Expenses to Stronger Community Programs & Community Supervision
CJPC Staff & Volunteers
Executive Director
Senior Director of
Policy & Special Projects
Michael Ballard
Intern
NC Central Dept of Political Science
Faith Everett
Policy Intern
NC Central School of Law
Nathaniel Boston
Volunteer Office Aide
Patricia McDonald
Volunteer Office Aide
CJPC
Board of Directors
Dr. George P. Wilson, Sr.
Chair
NC Central University Professor of Criminal Justice
Linda Weisel
Postconviction Attorney
Kate Dixon
Secretary/Treasurer
Friends of the Mountains to Sea Trail - Executive Director
Dr. Peter H. Burian
Duke University
Classical Studies Professor
Dr. Jeffrey Elliot
NC Central University Political Science Dept Chair
Dr. Jarvis Hall
NC Central University
Civic Engagement Director
Edd Gulati-Partee
Self-Help Community Credit Union
Information Technology
Sheria Reid
Institute of Government
Policy Analyst
CJPC is a partner organization
of the following:
Blueprint NC
HK on J Progressive Coalition for Social Change
"A Movement Not a Moment"
North Carolina Center for Nonprofits
North Carolina
Coalition for a Moratorium on Executions
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Contact Us!
Mailing Address:
Post Office Box 309
Durham, NC 27702-0309
(919) 682-1149
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