NCJ Number
112401
Date Published
1987
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This report represents a statewide review of the impact of the Fair Sentencing Act (FSA) and makes recommendations for statutory and administrative changes designed to ensure public safety, improve integrity in sentencing, and hold North Carolina offenders accountable both in correctional facilities and in the community.
Abstract
Data comparisons for before and after the 1981 passage of the FSA indicate that it resulted in a decline in average sentence length and the range of sentence lengths, a decline in average time served and the range of time served as a percent of the court-imposed sentence, and an increase in sentences above the presumptive level. On the basis of these findings, it is suggested that sentencing practices be revised so that actual time served is closer to the court-imposed sentence. A supervision term in combination with the prison term is recommended to increase the time the offender is under correctional control. In addition, expansion of local confinement facilities and alternative punishment programs are recommended to ease prison overcrowding and give courts a larger array of sentencing options. Such programs include pretrial release, deferred prosecution, restitution, community penalties, intensive probation, and treatment alternatives. Comments from public hearings are appended. Maps and figures.