News Roundup
I would like to think that the blog is influential, but events this week called that hypothesis into question. Wake County Superior Court Judge Don Stephens ruled that concealed handguns may be...
View ArticleSummary of the 2014 Legislative Session
I’ve been meaning to highlight this for some time now: the School of Government’s annual summary of legislation of interest of court officials is available here as a free PDF. It includes sections on...
View ArticleDoes Graduated Licensing Make Teens Safer Drivers or Just Postpone the Risk?
Vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers in the United States. That’s why states no longer grant unrestricted driver’s licenses to teens once they turn 16, as they did when I was a...
View ArticleStingrays
This weekend, the Charlotte Observer ran this article, entitled Charlotte Police Investigators Secretly Track Cellphones. The article concerns the use of so-called stingrays, also known as IMSI...
View ArticleCollateral Attacks on Probationary Sentences
Sometimes a good defense to an alleged probation violation is not about the violation itself, but rather about the underlying conviction or sentence. For example, if a violation occurred in month 38 of...
View ArticleNews Roundup
Remember Shea’s post about same-sex marriage and how the AOC has advised magistrates that they could face criminal prosecution if they refused to marry same-sex couples? State Senator Phil Berger has...
View ArticleEbola, Quarantines, and Criminal Law
Ebola’s been in the news lately, with several infected individuals on American soil. New York and New Jersey have begun to quarantine individuals arriving from West Africa who have had contact with...
View ArticleTracking Court Cost Waivers
Earlier this year National Public Radio ran a series on court costs entitled Guilty and Charged. The general point of the series was that “the costs of the criminal justice system in the United States...
View ArticleSame Sex Marriage and Domestic Violence
Same sex marriage has been permitted in North Carolina for a couple of weeks. Shea blogged here about one potential criminal law implication: the possibility, discussed in a memorandum from the...
View ArticleImplied Consent Laws Can’t Provide End-Run around McNeely
The United States Supreme Court held in Missouri v. McNeely, 133 S. Ct. 1552 (2013), that the natural dissipation of alcohol in the bloodstream does not constitute an exigency in every impaired driving...
View ArticleNews Roundup
Ah, Halloween. Spooks and ghouls and mostly baseless worry about criminal activity involving poisoned candy. Regular readers may recall that I blogged previously about the lack of actual episodes of...
View ArticlePolice Jurisdiction in Satellite and Related Areas
I’ve had several questions recently about the territorial jurisdiction of municipal police in areas outside city limits. This post sums up the law. General rule: city limits plus one mile. The general...
View ArticlePrior Record Level for Habitual and Repeat Offender Sentencing
In North Carolina we have a fair number of habitual and repeat offender punishment provisions—laws that increase a defendant’s punishment because of crimes he or she has committed in the past. Today’s...
View ArticleElection Summary
Yesterday was election day. This post summarizes results that are relevant to the criminal justice system. State constitutional amendment allowing felony bench trials: The amendment, discussed in this...
View ArticleHospitalization of DWI Suspect Does Not Create Per Se Exigency Justifying...
The Chatham County sheriff’s deputy who arrested Ronald McCrary in Siler City for impaired driving at 7:34 p.m. on December 28, 2010 decided that if McCrary was taken to the hospital, he would obtain a...
View ArticleNews Roundup
Shea blogged here about the same-sex marriage rulings in North Carolina’s federal courts, and the potential criminal law and other issues those rulings present for North Carolina magistrates. There...
View ArticleArticle for Officers and Others on Search Warrants for Digital Devices
Years ago, the School of Government did quite a bit of training for the Highway Patrol and other law enforcement officers. These days, we focus most of our criminal law courses on judges, lawyers, and...
View ArticleVeterans Treatment Court
The blog was dormant yesterday in honor of Veterans Day. Belated thanks to those who have served. [Editor's note: Including Jamie, who was a captain in the Air Force before law school.] This time last...
View ArticleParental Discipline: When Is It Abuse and/or a Crime?
[Editor's note: Today's post is by Sara DePasquale, a relatively recent addition to the SOG faculty. Sara works in the areas of juvenile law and child welfare, and we are delighted to welcome her to...
View ArticleNews Roundup
It might not seem like a sexy story, but in terms of practical impact, the rollout of a new system for handling certain traffic cases in Forsyth County is a big deal. The Winston-Salem Journal has the...
View Article
