Evaluation of North Carolina's 1994 Structured Sentencing Law, 1992-1998

Effective October 1, 1994, the state of North Carolina
 implemented a new structured sentencing law that applied to all felony
 and misdemeanor crimes (except for driving while impaired) committed
 on or after October 1, 1994. Under the new structured sentencing law
 parole was eliminated, and a sentencing commission developed
 recommended ranges of punishment for offense and offender categories,
 set priorities for the use of correctional resources, and developed a
 model to estimate correctional populations. This study sought to
 investigate sentencing reforms by looking at the effects of structured
 sentencing on multiple aspects of the adjudication process in North
 Carolina. A further objective was to determine whether there were
 differences in the commission of institutional infractions between
 inmates sentenced to North Carolina prisons under the pre-structured
 versus structured sentencing laws. Researchers hoped that the results
 of this study may help North Carolina and jurisdictions around the
 country (1) anticipate the likely effects of structured sentencing
 laws, (2) design new laws that might better achieve the jurisdictions'
 goals, and (3) improve the potential of sentencing legislation in
 order to enhance public safety in an effective and equitable
 way. Administrative records data were collected from two
 sources. First, in order to examine the effects of structured
 sentencing on the adjudication process in North Carolina, criminal
 case data were obtained from the North Carolina Administrative Office
 of the Courts (Parts 1 and 2). The pre-structured sentencing and
 structured sentencing samples were selected at the case level, and
 each record in Parts 1 and 2 represents a charged offense processed in
 either the North Carolina Superior or District Court. Second, inmate
 records data were collected from administrative records provided by
 the North Carolina Department of Correction (Part 3). These data were
 used to compare the involvement in infractions of inmates sentenced
 under both pre-structured and structured sentencing. The data for Part
 3 focused on inmates entering the prison system between June 1, 1995,
 and January 31, 1998. Variables for Parts 1 and 2 include type of
 charge, charged offense date, method of disposition (e.g., dismissal,
 withdrawal, jury trial), defendant's plea, verdict for the offense,
 and whether the offense was processed through the North Carolina
 Superior or District Court. Structured sentencing offense class and
 modified Uniform Crime Reporting code for both charged and convicted
 offenses are presented for Parts 1 and 2. There are also county,
 prosecutorial district, and defendant episode identifiers in both
 parts. Variables related to defendant episodes include types of
 offenses within episode, total number of charges and convictions,
 whether all charges were dismissed, whether any felony charge resulted
 in a jury trial, and the adjudication time for all charges. Demographic
 variables for Parts 1 and 2 include the defendant's age, race, and
 gender. Part 3 variables include the date of prison admission,
 sentence type, number of prior incarcerations, number of years served
 during prior incarcerations, maximum sentence length for current
 incarceration, jail credit in years, count of all infractions during
 current and prior incarcerations, reason for incarceration, infraction
 rate, the risk for alcohol and drug dependency based on alcohol and
 chemical dependency screening scores, and the number of assault,
 drug/alcohol, profanity/disobedience, work absence, and money/property
 infractions during an inmate's current incarceration. Demographic
 variables for Part 3 include race, gender, and age at the time of each
inmate's prison admission.

Tags: criminal-justice-system, felony-offenses, misdemeanor-offenses, policies-and-procedures, punishment, sentencing, sentencing-reforms
Organization: Department of Justice