Press Releases and Newsletters
Tough Choices on Prison Population (The Insider)
Tough Choices on Prison Population (The Insider)
By Scott Mooneyham
September 4, 2009
RALEIGH — After all that get-tough-on-crime talk, it was a rather interesting turn of events.
North Carolina legislators narrowly approved a new law that promises to shave as much as two years off the prison terms of some violent felons.
Meanwhile, most lawmakers wouldn’t touch a bill designed to reform a habitual felons law that can send nonviolent, repeat offenders to prison for terms as long as a that of a rapist.
But for state prosecutors, the habitual felon law in North Carolina seems to be some kind of Holy Grail. Now that they’ve found it, no one wants it tarnished.
The state, though, has a little problem. The prison population is growing, and there doesn’t seem to be much political will to build new prisons.
That’s what happens when you have a prison population that rises at the same time crime rates drop, as they have for almost two decades.
Back in the early 1990s, crime rates had spike. North Carolinians and state lawmakers decided to get tough by building new prisons and creating a new sentencing law that sent violent felons to prison for longer terms.
The state’s Structured Sentencing Act also restored public confidence in the prison sentences handed out, requiring that those convicted serve all or most of their sentence.
In fact, a report released a couple of years ago indicated that felons sent to North Carolina prisons were serving, on average, 109 percent of their sentence.
Another get-tough-on-crime measure, the habitual felon law, required that anyone convicted for a fourth time of a fourth felony — even if each crime involved nothing but breaking into a car — be sentenced as if he or she were an armed robber or rapist.
State Rep. Phil Haire, a Jackson County Democrat, introduced legislation to change the law, dropping from consideration any violations of the two lowest levels of felonies. Most of his colleagues didn’t want anything to do with it.
Instead, they passed a bill changing the state’s sentencing grid, potentially cutting the sentence of some violent felons while increasing the terms of their supervised probation.
It’s good to be tough on crime, politically and otherwise. And the state’s Structured Sentencing Law, by about any measure, has been a success story. It’s help keep the worst criminals off the street.
Being dumb on crime is another matter.
Legislators obviously felt like they had to do something to slow down the growth in the state’s prison population to avoid the kind of lawsuit faced by California, where a federal appeals court has ordered the release of 57,000 prisoners because of overcrowding.
The prison population here has grown by 95 percent since 1992, rising from 21,000 to 41,000 during a period when the overall population has risen by about 40 percent.
It’s an unsustainable trend.
Making modest reforms to a law that causes nonviolent felons to spend 15 years or more in prison is better choice than carving off a couple of years for violent felons.
NCDOT TIPAG Policy Workgroup Topics
At our meeting on Monday, September 21 we will be choosing one or two Intergovernmental Policy Workgroup Topics for consideration and action from the list of ideas the group generated at our last meeting which can be found in this report. Leave me a comment on which two you think are the most important for NCDOT and cities to work on together going forward. I will share your feedback with the group next week.
NCDOT Transportation Intergovernmental Policy Advisory Group
NCDOT has created a Transportation Intergovernmental Policy Advisory Group (TIPAG) the purpose of which is to identify opportunities for transportation stakeholders, local governments, and the Department to work more effectively together in the planning and implementing of long-range plans including land use and transportation. Click here for the Power Point on the TIPAG.
The Policy Group Steering Committee members include:
NC League of Municipalities
Paul Meyer & Julie White
NC Association of County Commissioners
Kevin Leonard
NC MPO Association
Mike Kozlosky
NC RPO Association
Hannah Cockburn
NC Council of Governments Association
Betty Huskins
Contractor Representative
Mike Horn, Kimley-Horn & Associates
NCDOT Management Team
Jim Trogdon, Chief Operating Officer
Susan Coward, Deputy Secretary Intergovernmental Affairs and Budget Coordination
Mark Foster, Chief Financial Officer
Jim Westmoreland, Deputy Secretary for Transit
Terry Gibson, State Highway Administrator
Mark Tyler, Director of Governance Office
Here’s the Game Plan.
Several key points for this advisory group include:
The Perdue Administration, NCDOT Secretary Gene Conti, and the entire management team at NCDOT are committed to working collaboratively with local governments.
Several studies and commissions have cited the need to improve policy and working relations between NCDOT and local governments. Recently, 21st Century Transportation Committee recommended a cooperative and collaborative working relationship between NCDOT and local governments.
The Legislatively appointed Committee noted that NCDOT should assist local governments in coordinating land-use and transportation planning and that NCDOT should explore opportunities for improved delivery and efficiency of existing transportation services by working with the state local government associations (NCLM, NCACC, etc).
The group is scheduled to meet on (links to summary of meeting):
September 21, 2009.
April 26, 2010 and Action Plan
July 26, 2010 and NCDOT Update Presented at Meeting
Subgroups were created. Click on the title to see the work plan and membership of each work group.
Communications and Education – Membership, May 13 agenda, May 13 meeting minutes, NCDOT Manager Survey, Local Government Elected Official Survey, Local Government Transportation Staff Survey, Summary of Survey Highlights, Summary of Text Comments. FInal Report.
GAO Report on Enhancing MPOs
Link to the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) report identifying options to enhance the MPO transportation planning process.
Governor’s Crime Commission Meeting
Today Meenal attended the Governor’s Crime Commission meeting, held in Raleigh.
Chairman Scott Thomas began the meeting by asking for a moment of silence to commemorate 9/11.
After this, he recognized Thomas Caves, Special Assistant to Secretary Reuben Young of the NC Department of Crime Control and Public Safety to give a legislative update.
Thomas began his review by acknowledging the difficult legislative session and said that many departments experienced cuts to their budgets.
His update touched on legislative action which impacted the Department of Crime Control.
Highlights include the following bill ratifications:
–HB 9, No Texting while Driving, which bans the use of cell phones and other technology when used to send or receive text messages or emails while operating a motor vehicle. Law enforcement officers and other public safety workers are exempt from this bill. The bill does not ban GPS or other navigational tools.
–HB 1342, Free Medical Exam-Victims of Rape/Sexual Offenses addresses an issue being faced by victims of rape who do have insurance or other collateral source of income. Because of this income, victims were being billed for some of the services included in the forensic collection of evidence that occurs after the crime. The bill specifies that all charges related to the forensic exam should be billed to the state and not insurance carriers.
–HB 379 (Allow Mutual Aid between State and Local Governments) came from the Joint Legislative Committee on Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Recovery Management and states that the governor may set up mutual aid agreements between local governments with the agreement of the entities.
–HB 380 (Strengthen Local Emergency Management) also recommended by the Joint Legislative Committee on Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Recovery Management authorizes local governments to form joint emergency management agencies across county and municipal lines. Additionally, it requires a state review of local emergency management plans.
Following the update, there was discussion of enhancing GCC members communications with legislators. Suggestions included hand delivering the policy agenda to their respective representatives and educating legislators and the general public about the mission of the GCC.
After a short break, committee reports on the 2010 GCC program priorities were reviewed.
The Criminal Justice Improvement Committee will focus on four aspects:
1) Local law enforcement block grants for those local law enforcement agencies that do not qualify for direct JAG awards from the US Dept. of Justice. These applications are for both equipment purchases and overtime resources, with a cap of $10,000 in federal funds per agency.
2) Special emphasis law enforcement initiatives are for law enforcement agencies that are interested in developing, or already have units to address, drug enforcement or property crime concerns. There is also a Robbery/Burglary initiative to solicit grant proposals at the local and state level to address jurisdictions with the highest rates of burglary in the state and soliciting a DNA capacity grant for non-violent offenders who commit robbery/burglary. This will expand the current DNA lab and will encourage larger jurisdictions to submit their cases to the SBI Lab.
Additionally, the GCC will be soliciting 2 pilot projects, in a medium (100,000-300,000 pop.) prosecutorial district and a second one in large (over 300,000 in pop.). The purpose of these is to clear the backlog of serious violent crime cases and fast track the prosecution of these cases.
3) Statewide infrastructure and technology improvement, which includes statewide initiatives in technology such as state and local justice integration projects that link existing data bases, criminal history records improvement and expansion of uniform crime reporting capacity to rural areas that currently aren’t able to report data to the SBI.
4) Recidivism reduction initiatives that includes pre-trial services programs, drug treatment court programs in counties that don’t currently have them and offender transitional services programs.
The 2010 Crime Victims’ Services Committee Program Priorities Committee include 5 aspects:
1) Sexual assault/domestic violence services
2) Child abuse and neglect services
3) Law enforcement/prosecutors’ offices/court officials which focuses on proposals that develop, train or expand specialized units that target violent crimes against women.
4) Underserved crime victims services
5) Other sexual assault/ domestic violence services
The 2010 Juvenile Justice Planning Committee Program Priorities focuses on 4 aspects:
1) Services to address disproportionate minority contact in the juvenile justice system
2) Delinquency prevention through skills-training and/or vocational programs
3) Community-based intervention and prevention services for youth involved with gangs, abusing substances, or in detention while providing educational programming
4) Improved response for child victims of maltreatment
21 Contracts Totaling More Than $50 Million Awarded for Highway Projects Across North Carolina
21 Contracts Totaling More Than $50 Million Awarded for Highway Projects Across North Carolina
RALEIGH — Gov. Bev Perdue announced today that 21 contracts totaling $50.8 million have been awarded for highway and bridge projects across North Carolina, including eight projects funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The contracts were awarded by the N.C. Department of Transportation to the lowest respective bidder, as required by state law.
“These projects are putting people to work, making critical improvements to our roads and bridges, and helping the local economies in communities across the state,” said Gov. Perdue.
According to the Federal Highway Administration, every $1 million spent on transportation creates 30 jobs, and according to the construction industry, every dollar invested in transportation generates $6 in economic impact.
The eight recovery projects awarded are located in Davidson, Franklin, Guilford, Hertford, Jackson, Nash, Surry, Transylvania, Wayne and counties. The 13 other projects awarded are located in Brunswick, Dare, Durham, Granville, Guilford, Harnett, Mecklenburg, Pamlico, Person, Robeson, Union and Wake counties. Work will start on most of the projects in late September or early October.
The bids on another project to renovate the rest area on I-85 in Cabarrus County were rejected because the bids were not properly submitted. The project will be rebid in October.
The bids received on all 22 projects advertised came in nearly 16 percent, about $9.8 million, below NCDOT estimates.
For more information about funding for infrastructure improvements in North Carolina, as well as other NCDOT projects and activities, visit www.ncdot.gov.
