NCJ Number
105913
Journal
North Carolina Insight Volume: 9 Issue: 3 Dated: (1987) Pages: 42-49
Date Published
1987
Length
8 pages
Annotation
The North Carolina Fair Sentencing Act of 1979, giving explicit standards for sentence length and abolishing most discretionary parole, has proven to reduce prison overcrowding and slow prison population growth.
Abstract
Judges now have presumptive sentences for various felonies unless there are definite rules for changing them. A reduction of 60 percent may be earned for working, attending classes, and maintaining good behavior. Sentences are now shorter and less varied than in the past. The percentage of felons receiving active prison sentences instead of probation has not changed, but disparities in time served between men and women and white and black are almost eliminated. Good time and gain time are dictated by statute and not by the parole commission and Secretary of Correction. There are fewer trials and more guilty pleas, and plea bargaining is gaining. Judges, blamed by the public for sentence unpredictability, are tending to give consecutive sentences for multiple offenses. Demands to put a cap on good time earned or disclosure to show at time of sentencing when a defendant may be released continue to grow. To make substantial changes in the act will increase longer sentences and overcrowding. Glossary, 1 illustration, 2 tables and 12 footnotes.