Evaluation of North Carolina's Structured Sentencing Law, Final

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Evaluation of North Carolina's Structured Sentencing Law, Final The author(s) shown below used Federal funds provided by the U.S. Department of Justice and prepared the following final report: Document Title: Evaluation of North Carolina’s Structured Sentencing Law, Final Report Author(s): James J. Collins, Donna L. Spencer, George H. Dunteman, Harlene C. Gogan, Peter H. Siegel, Brad A. Lessler, Kenneth Parker, Thomas Sutton Document No.: 187349 Date Received: March 21, 2001 Award Number: 96-CE-VX-0013 This report has not been published by the U.S. Department of Justice. To provide better customer service, NCJRS has made this Federally- funded grant final report available electronically in addition to traditional paper copies. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. RESEARCH TRIANGLE INSTITUTE Final Report Evaluation of North Carolina’s Structured Sentencing Law PROPERTY OF National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Box 6000 Rockflle, MD 20849-60C)@ James J. Collins Donna L. Spencer George H. Dunteman Harlene C. Gogan Peter H. Siege1 Brad A. Lessler Research Triangle Institute and Kenneth Parker Thomas Sutton North Carolina Department of Correction September 30,1999 FINAL REPORT- . National Institute of Justice Approved By: Grant No. 96-CE-VX-0013 RTI Project No. 6780 m was supported by the National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice )6-CE-VX-0013. Points of view expressed in the report are those of the authors 00 necessarily reflect the policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. lis Road Post Ofiice Box 12194 ResearP Trima’e %rk Nor‘h Caroin2 27709-210-11 IC;? This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Numerous individuals made important contributions to this study. Stevens Clarke and James Drennan of the University of North Carolina Institute of Government were members of the study’s advisory group. Mr. Clarke, who has conducted previous sentencing evaluation studies in North Carolina, was especially helpful and generous with his time. Staff at the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) were members of the advisory group and provided the data used for assessing the effects of the 1994 structured sentencing legislation on the adjudication process. Mr. Thomas Havener was particularly helpful in the latter regard. Dr. LeAnn Wallace and Ms. Laura Donnelly helped us to interpret the AOC data. Mr. Robin Lubitz,* Dr. Susan Katzenelson, and Dr. Kitty Herrin of the North Carolina Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission were important advisors for understanding and interpreting the legislative history and operational aspects of the 1994 structured sentencing law. I Dr. Herrin provided important advice in connection with our analysis of the AOC data. Dr. Kenneth Parker, Mr. Thomas Sutton, and Mr. Frank Proctor from the North Carolina Department of Correction had key roles in designing the prison infractions component of the study, and they provided advice for interpreting these data. I The Honorable James C. Spencer, Jr., Superior Court Judge, and David Freedman, Attorney at Law for the firm White and Crumpler, attended our initial advisory group meeting I and provided an important perspective from the points of view of judge and defense attorney. Mr. Richard Straw, RTI editor, and Ms. Catherine Boykin, RTI document specialist, I helped to generate what we believe is an easily readable final report on a complex set of findings. Dr. Jordan kiter** and Ms. Janice Munsterman of the National Institute of Justice I provided useful technical and administrative advice for the conduct of the study. Errors of omission or interpretation are, of course, the responsibilities of the report authors. * Mr. Lubitz is currently Deputy Director of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. ** Dr. Liter is currently with the Office of Policy and Legislation of the Criminal Division in the U.S. Department of Justice. .. 11 This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. CONTENTS Chapter Page .. Acknowledgments ................................................... 11 Tables .............................................................. v Abstract ........................................................... vi 1. Introduction and Background ............................................ 1 1.1 Introduction .................................................... 1 1.2 Background and Effects of Sentencing Reforms ........................ 3 1.3 North Carolina’s Structured Sentencing Law .......................... 7 1.4 AdvisoryGroup ................................................. 9 2 . Effects of Structured Sentencing on the Adjudication Process ................. 11 2.1 Literature Review .............................................. 11 2.2 Methods ...................................................... 12 2.2.1 Overview .............................................. 12 2.2.2 Analysis of AOC Data .................................... 13 2.2.3 Interviews with Court Personnel ............................ 19 2.3 Findings ...................................................... 22 2.3.1 Analytic Approach ....................................... 22 2.3.2 Description of AOC Samples ............................... 23 2.3.3 Charges ............................................... 25 2.3.4 Dismissals ............................................. 29 2.3.5 PleaNegotiations ........................................ 31 2.3.6 JuryTrials ............................................. 38 2.3.7 Adjudication Time ....................................... 40 2.4 Summary of Findings ........................................... 44 2.5 Limitations .................................................... 46 3. Effects of Structured Sentencing on Prison Infractions ....................... 48 3.1 Literature Review .............................................. 48 3.2 Methods ...................................................... 52 3.2.1 Poisson Regression ...................................... 53 3.2.2 Control Variables ........................................ 54 3.2.3 Dependent Variables ..................................... 56 3.2.4 Multivariate Analyses .................................... 56 3.3 Descriptive Findings ............................................ 57 3.4 Modeling Results ............................................... 61 3.4.1 Poisson Replications of Earlier Analyses ..................... 61 3.4.2 Extended Poisson Analyses of Structured Versus Fair Sentencing ............................................. 61 3.4.3 Seriousness of Crime ..................................... 64 3.4.4 Prior Time Served ....................................... 65 iii This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. CONTENTS (continued) Chapter Page 3.4.5 Jail Credit Time ......................................... 65 3.4.6 RaceEthnicity .......................................... 66 3.4.7 Age ................................................... 66 3.4.8 Probation Violator Versus Nonviolator ....................... 67 3.4.9 Expected Time Served .................................... 67 3.4.10 AlcoholDependency ..................................... 68 3.4.11 ChemicalDependency .................................... 68 3.4.12 Prior Prison Infractions ................................... 69 3.. 4.13 Summary of Results ...................................... 69 3.5 Limitations .................................................... 70 4 . Summary and Implications ............................................ 72 4.1 Background ................................................... 72 4.2 North Carolina’s Structured Sentencing Law ......................... 73 4.3 Effects of Structured Sentencing on the Adjudication Process ............ 74 4.4 Structured Sentencing and Prison Infractions ......................... 76 4.5 Implications ................................................... 77 References ............................................................... 80 Appendix A . Unknown Offense Class Due to Obsolete and Split Offenses. by Most Serious Charge (Defendant Episodes with Conviction(s) Only) ................ 84 I iv This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. I I TABLES I Number Page 2.1 Hierarchy for Determining Most Serious Charge Within Defendant Episodes . 16 I 2.2 Comparison of Prestructured Sentencing and Structured Sentencing Defendant Episodes ........................................................... 24 2.3 Distribution of Most Serious
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