GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2001
S	1
SENATE BILL 1100

 
 
Short Title:	Sent. Commn/Study Structured Sent.	()	
Sponsors:	Senators Ballance, Kerr; and Dannelly.	
Referred to:	Rules and Operations of the Senate.	
April 5, 2001

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to direct the north carolina sentencing and policy advisory commission to review the State's Structured sentencing laws, assess the effect of the current sentencing structures on the DEPARTMENT of correction and local confinement facilities both in terms of fiscal impact and on inmate population, and make recommendations regarding the state's structured Sentencing laws that appropriately penalize for the nature and degree of harm likely to be caused by an offense but that also address the growing inmate populations in state and local facilities that will soon exceed standard operating capacity.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  The North Carolina Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission shall exercise its statutory responsibility under Article 4 of Chapter 164 of the General Statutes to monitor and review the criminal justice and corrections system as follows.  The Commission is directed to study and review the State's sentencing laws in order to develop options for slowing the anticipated increase in incarceration over the next 10 years.  Areas of review may include the classification of offenses and offenders, the relationship of the sentence and the sentence length to the offense, and the sentence dispositions available to judges. The options must be consistent with the purposes of sentencing as stated in G.S. 15A‑1340.12.  The Commission's options, and any recommendations, should balance the need to ensure that sentencing laws appropriately penalize offenders for the nature and degree of harm caused by the offense with the need to consider the potential impact on correctional resources of the growth in the prison population.
SECTION 2.  The North Carolina Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission shall report its findings to the 2001 General Assembly no later than the convening of the 2002 Regular Session.
SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.