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North Carolina's
Legislative Criminal Justice Policy Brief
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Community Corrections Success Story
Peter Bell - Re-entry Grad, City Employee
"People who graduate from a well-structured community-based corrections program are half as likely to be rearrested."
Peter Bell manages water and sewer problems for the City of Durham. He supervises a team of employees and has earned three separate certifications in water and sewer management.
Click here to read and download Peter's story and his recommendations for successfully completing a community-based re-entry program in Durham.
Photo Credit: Jenny Warburg |
UNC-TV Black Issues Forum
Hill, Hunt and Fuller Cooper discuss NC's New Racial Justice Act
 It's Official! After years of hard work to reduce racial bias in North Carolina's criminal justice system, the NC Racial Justice Act was passed and officially signed into law by North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue on August 11, 2009.
Click here to watch Capital Attorney Henderson Hill, Prison Exoneree Darryl Hunt and CJPC Director Charmaine Fuller Cooper discuss the newly enacted death penalty reform. |
New Pew Report Released
Cutting Corrections Costs
With state budgets in dire straits and corrections expenditures consuming 1 in 15 state general fund dollars, sentencing and prison policies are receiving special scrutiny. A new publication from the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), partner of the Public Safety Performance Project of the Pew Center on the States, describes several solutions that help to contain costs while preserving or improving public safety. -Pew Center on the States
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NC's Justice Reinvestment Initiative
A New Look at NC Corrections Spending
After a long hot legislative summer, it's time to get geared up for a new look at the way the state manages its correctional dollars.
Legislators have appropriated $100,000 to contract with the Justice Reinvestment Project of the Council of State Governments. The three goals of the project are to reduce spending on corrections; increase public safety and improve conditions in neighborhoods to which most people released from prison will return.
The project has the support of NC House Speaker Joe Hackney, NC Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight and Governor Beverly Perdue along with appropriations leaders in the House and Senate. It's likely that this initiative will be driving a number of correctional changes over the next few years.
The first thing the Justice Center does when working with a state is to analyze the prison population and spending in the communities to which people in prison often return. After that, it works to provide policymakers with options to generate savings and increase public safety. Of course, once those good options are generated, leaders will need to know that citizens support them.
If you care about how the state spends it's correctional dollars and how we could do better, this is a committee you'll want to watch. |
A Celebrity's Battle with Substances Inspiring
Whitney Houston discusses substance battle on Oprah Today
 Today, Whitney Houston will sit down with talk show host Oprah Winfrey. Many will tune in because they love Whitney as a musical artist. But many others will watch because they are seeking inspiration for their own substance addictions. Read more...
Oprah Preview
Photo Credit: Whitney Houston and Oprah Winfrey Photo by: Richard Young / Startraks, Peter Kramer / AP
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"Instincts" or "Statistics"
Forsyth County District Attorney under Fire for YesWeekly quote
The NC Racial Justice Act is now enacted. Yet, one of North Carolina's District Attorneys continues to oppose the Act.
While the NC Racial Justice Act will allow those facing a death sentence and those sentenced to death to file a motion to prove that racial bias 'significantly' impacted their cases, Forsyth District Attorney Tom Keith dislikes the act and was recently quoted in YesWeekly stating:
"If you're African American, you're six, seven or eight times more likely to have a violent history," Keith said. "I didn't go out there and put a gun in your hand and say, 'You commit eight crimes, and I'm a white man, I'll commit one.' That's just instincts, that's just how it is."
After numerous community protests calling for Keith's resignation for a racially-biased comment, YesWeekly revealed that it had misquoted Keith and that he said 'statistics' not 'instincts'.
In a county that wrongfully sentenced Darryl Hunt, a Black male, for the rape and murder of a white female journalist 25 years ago, Keith's comments - misquoted and corrected - still continue to draw calls from both Black and White clergy for Keith to step down.
A Race and the Death Penalty study by UNC Law Dean, Jack Boger and UNC Professor Dr. Isaac Unah reveals that Blacks in North Carolina are 3.5 times more likely to receive a death sentence if their victim is white.
Progressive Policy Watch Blog
by Charmaine Fuller Cooper |
Building Knowledge & Finding Help
COMING JANUARY 2010!
North Carolina's Criminal Justice Resource Directory for Practitioners, Offenders' and Their Families | |
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Progressive Policy Watch Blogs
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Upcoming Conferences & Events
Oct 15-18, 2009
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Nov 4 - 6, 2009
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State & National Research Findings
Reallocate Prison Expenses to Stronger Community Programs & Community Supervision
CJPC Staff & Volunteers
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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