Read The Now-Deleted Soft-On-Crime Guidebook From the North Carolina District Attorney Association
In the wake of Iryna Zarutska’s murder, the General Assembly passed Iryna’s law to crack down of dangerous soft-on-crime policies. One source of these soft on crime policies is progressive District Attorney’s charged with pr
In January 2021, the Conference of District Attorney’s released a “Report on Race Equity and Criminal Justice.” This report is no longer easily available on group’s website, but the Blue Ridge Times received an old copy of the report and confirmed its existence on the group’s website in the internet archive. North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys provides “crucial support to prosecutors in the discharge of their duties. To accomplish this, the Conference extends a range of valuable resources and guidance, including Professional Development, Publications, and Research Assistance.”
In the wake of the George Floyd riots, the Conference formed a Working Group on Race, Equity and Justice. Notably, the group issued lengthy statement about Geroge Floyd and so far, has not issued a similar statement condemning the brutal murder of Iryna Zarutska.
In January 2021, the Working Group released their recommendations, which include several policies that modified that way criminals were prosecuted in North Carolina. The Working group was chaired by Lorrin Freeman, the Democrat from Wake County, Governor Roy Cooper appointee Mecklenburg District Attorney Spencer Merriweater, and six other District Attorneys from across North Carolina. To compile their report they listened to numerous stakeholders, including representatives for Governor’s Cooper Taskforce for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice.
Here are some of the most startling suggestions from the report:
Implicit bias training will be taught to all new prosecutors. District Attorneys will encourage their staff to attend implicit bias training throughout their prosecutorial career. (In corporate settings, implicit bias “training” has been show to be counterproductive in promoting diversity.)
The State Bar should adopt a provision allowing for implicit and other cognitive bias training to be categorized as continuing legal education in ethics.
Expand the use and scope of 15A-1341(a4) - H or I Felony or Misdemeanor to allow more offenders the opportunity to be considered for conditional discharge while continuing the exclusion of DWIs and maintaining the current joint motion of the defendant and prosecutor requirement.
Law enforcement and magistrates should receive enhanced training on the use of citations and summons in lieu of arrest for non-violent offenses.
Districts should review and update bond policies with input from all judicial stakeholders and provide training for judges and magistrates11; 15A-534(d3) should be amended to remove the minimum required bond of $1000 in those cases in which a defendant fails to appear on a charge that is pending, leaving the appropriate bond in the discretion of the judicial official.
Prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges should receive training on current provisions of the sentencing laws that allow for deviation from presumptive sentences such as advanced supervised release and extraordinary mitigation.
The Conference of District Attorneys declined to comment for this story and refused to clarify if these training programs were still being employed by District Attorneys, particularly in progressive areas.
