NCJ Number
84164
Date Published
1982
Length
147 pages
Annotation
This report presents a comprehensive statistical study of prosecution and sentencing of persons charged with felonies in North Carolina, before the State's new determinant sentencing legislation became effective.
Abstract
The study analyzed North Carolina Department of Correction data on nearly 10,000 felons sentenced in 1979. Of the sentences imposed, 44 percent involved probation only. Logistic multiple regression indicated that active sentence lengths were associated not only with the seriousness and number of crimes of conviction and the offender's criminal record, but also with age, race, sex, education, marital status, drug abuse, and length of time spent in pretrial detention before sentencing. Data on time actually served in prison by felons released in 1980 are presented. An indepth analysis of court disposition in 12 representative counties showed that about half of the defendants charged with felonies never reached the indictment stage, a third had all their charges dismissed, 58 percent pled guilty to some charge, and only 6 percent completed jury trials. Plea bargaining was extensive for both charges and sentences. Defendants with longer pretrial detention times had lower odds of dismissal of charges and received more severe sentences if convicted. Indigent defendants with court-assigned counsel were more likely to be convicted and received more severe sentences for property crimes than did defendants who paid for their own lawyers. Sentences tended to be less severe for defendants who pled guilty than for those who went to trial, apart from the effects of other factors. Figures, tables, study data and instruments, and six references are supplied. (Author abstract modified)