GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 1999
SESSION LAW 1999-306
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1. Subchapter XIII of Chapter 7A of the General Statutes reads as rewritten:
"SUBCHAPTER XIII. COMMUNITY PENALTIES PROGRAM.
"ARTICLE 61.
"Community Penalties Program Act of 1983.
"Sentencing Services Programs.
"§ 7A-770. Purpose.
This Article shall be known and may be cited as the "Community
Penalties Act of 1983." "Sentencing Services Act." The
purpose of this Article is to reduce prison overcrowding by providing establish
a statewide sentencing services program that will provide the judicial
system with community sentences to be used in lieu of and at less cost than
imprisonment. information that will assist that system in imposing
sentences that make the most effective use of available resources. In
furtherance of this purpose, this Article provides for the following:
(1) Establishment of local
sentencing alternatives for felons who require less than institutional
custody but more than regular probation supervision. programs that can
provide judges and other court officials with information about local
correctional programs that are appropriate for offenders who require a
comprehensive sentencing plan that combines punishment, control, and
rehabilitation services.
(2) Increased opportunities for certain felons to make restitution to victims of crime through financial reimbursement or community service.
(3) Local involvement in
the development of community penalties sentencing services to
assure that they are specifically designed to meet local needs.
(4) Reduced
expenditures of State funds through an emphasis on alternative penalties for
offenders so that new prisons need not be built or new space added. Effective
use of available community corrections programs by advising judges and other
court officials of the offenders most suited for a particular program.
"§ 7A-771. Definitions.
As used in this Article:
(1) "Community
penalties "Sentencing services program" means an agency or
State-run office within the judicial superior court district
which shall (i) prepare community penalty sentencing plans; (ii)
arrange or contract with public and private agencies for necessary services for
offenders; and (iii) monitor the progress of offenders placed on community
penalty plans. assist offenders in initially obtaining services ordered
as part of a sentence entered pursuant to a sentencing plan, if the assistance
is not available otherwise.
(2) "Community
penalty "Sentencing plan" means a plan presented in
writing to the sentencing judge which provides a detailed assessment and description
of the targeted offender's proposed community penalty. offender's
background, including available information about past criminal activity, a
matching of the specific offender's needs with available resources, and, if
appropriate, the program's recommendations regarding an intermediate sentence.
(2a) "Director" means the Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts.
(2b) "Superior court district" means a superior court district established by G.S. 7A-41 for those districts consisting of one or more entire counties, and otherwise means the applicable set of districts as that term is defined in G.S. 7A-41.1.
(3) "Judicial
district" means a district court district as defined in G.S. 7A-133.
(4) Repealed by Session Laws 1991, c. 566, s. 4.
(5) "Targeted
offenders" means persons charged with or convicted of misdemeanors or
felonies who are eligible to receive an intermediate punishment based on their
class of offense and prior record level and who are facing an imminent and
substantial threat of imprisonment.
"§ 7A-772. Allocation of funds.
(a) The Director may
award grants in accordance with the policies established by this Article and in
accordance with any laws made for that purpose, including appropriations acts
and provisions in appropriations acts, and adopt regulations for the
implementation, operation, and monitoring of community penalties sentencing
services programs. Community penalties Sentencing services programs
that are grantees shall use such the funds to develop,
implement, and monitor community penalty plans. exclusively to develop a
sentencing services program that provides sentencing information to judges and
other court officials. Grants shall be awarded by the Director to
agencies whose comprehensive program plans promise best to meet the goals set
forth herein. The Director shall consider the plan required by G.S.
7A-774 in making funding decisions. If a senior resident superior court
judge has not formally endorsed the plan, the Director shall consider that fact
in making grant decisions, but the Director may, if appropriate, award grants
to a program in which the judge has not endorsed the plan as submitted.
(b) The Director may
establish local community penalties sentencing services programs
and appoint those staff as the Director deems necessary. These personnel may
serve as full-time or part-time State employees or may be hired on a
contractual basis when determined appropriate by the director. Contracts
entered under the authority of this subsection shall be exempt from the
competitive bidding procedures under Chapter 143 of the General Statutes. The
Administrative Office of the Courts shall adopt rules necessary and appropriate
for the administration of the program. Funds appropriated by the General
Assembly for the establishment and maintenance of community penalties sentencing
services programs under this Article shall be administered by the
Administrative Office of the Courts.
"§ 7A-773.
Responsibilities of a community penalties sentencing services program.
A community penalties sentencing services program
shall be responsible for:
(1) Targeting offenders
who are eligible to receive an intermediate punishment based on their class of
offense and prior record level and who face an imminent and substantial threat
of imprisonment.
Identifying offenders who:
a. Are charged with or have been offered a plea by the State for a felony offense for which the class of offense and prior record level authorize the court to impose an active punishment, but do not require that it do so;
b. Have a high risk of committing future crimes without appropriate sanctions and interventions; and
c. Would benefit from the preparation of an intensive and comprehensive sentencing plan of the type prepared by sentencing services programs.
(2) Preparing detailed community
penalty sentencing services plans requested pursuant to G.S.
7A-773.1 for presentation to the sentencing judge by the offender's
attorney or at the request of the sentencing judge. judge.
(3) Contracting or
arranging with public or private agencies for services described in the community
penalty sentencing plan.
(4) Monitoring
the progress of offenders under community penalty plans.
"§ 7A-773.1. Who may request plans; disposition of plans; contents of plans.
(a) A judge presiding over a case in which the offender meets the criteria set forth in G.S. 7A-773(1) may request, at any time prior to the imposition of sentence, that the sentencing services program provide a sentencing plan. The court may also request, at any time prior to the imposition of sentence, that the program provide a sentencing plan in misdemeanor cases in which the class of offense is Class A1 or Class 1 and the prior conviction level is Level III, if the court determines that the preparation of such a plan is in the interest of justice. In addition, in cases in which the offender meets the criteria set forth in G.S. 7A-773, the defendant or a prosecutor, at any time before the court has accepted a guilty plea or received a guilty verdict, may request that the program provide a plan. However, prior to an adjudication of guilt, a defendant may decline to participate in the preparation of a plan within a reasonable time after the request is made. In that case, no plan shall be prepared or presented to the court by the sentencing services program prior to an adjudication of guilt. A defendant's decision not to participate shall be made in writing and filed with the court. The comprehensive sentencing services program plan prepared pursuant to G.S. 7A-774 shall define what constitutes a reasonable time within the meaning of this subsection.
(b) Any sentencing plan prepared by a sentencing services program shall be presented to the court, the defendant, and the State in an appropriate manner.
(c) Sentencing plans prepared by sentencing services programs may include recommendations for use of any treatment or correctional resources available, unless the sentencing court instructs otherwise. Sentencing plans that identify an offender's needs for education, treatment, control, or other services shall, to the extent feasible, also identify resources to meet those needs. Plans may report that no intermediate punishment is appropriate under the circumstances of the case.
(d) To the extent allowed by law, the sentencing services program shall develop procedures to ensure that the program staff may work with offenders before a plea is entered. To that end, no information obtained in the course of preparing a sentencing plan may be used by the State for the purpose of establishing guilt.
"§ 7A-774.
Requirements for a comprehensive community penalties sentencing
services program plan.
Agencies applying for grants shall prepare a comprehensive community
penalties sentencing services program plan for the development,
implementation, operation, and improvement of a community penalties sentencing
services program for the judicial superior court district, as
prescribed by the Director. The plan shall be updated annually and
shall be submitted to the senior resident superior court judge for the superior
court district for the judge's advice and written endorsement. The plan
shall then be forwarded to the Director for approval. The Such plan
shall include:
(1) Objectives Goals
and objectives of the community penalties sentencing services program.
(2) Goals for reduction
of offenders committed to prison for each county within the district, and a
system of monitoring the number of commitments to prison. Specification
of the kinds or categories of offenders for whom the programs will provide
sentencing information to the courts.
(3) Procedures for
identifying targeted offenders, and a plan for referral of targeted offenders
to the community penalties program. Proposed procedures for the
identification of appropriate offenders to comply with the plan and the
criteria in G.S. 7A-773(1).
(4) Procedures for
preparing and presenting community penalty plans to the court.
(4a) Strategies for ensuring that judges and court officials who are possible referral sources use the program's services in appropriate cases.
(5) Procedures for obtaining services from existing public or private agencies, and a detailed budget for staff, contracted services, and all other costs.
(6) Procedures
for monitoring the progress of offenders on community penalty plans and for
cooperating with the probation personnel who have supervisory responsibility
for the offender.
(7) Procedures
for returning offenders who do not comply with their community penalty plan to
court for action by the court.
(8) Procedures
for evaluating the program's effect on numbers of prison commitments.
"§ 7A-775.
Community penalties Sentencing services board.
(a) Each community
penalties sentencing services program shall establish a community
penalties sentencing services board to provide direction and
assistance to the community penalties sentencing services program
in the implementation and evaluation of the plan. Community penalties Sentencing
services boards may be organized as nonprofit corporations under Chapter
55A of the General Statutes. The community penalties sentencing
services board shall consist of not less than 12 members, and shall
include, insofar as possible, judges, district attorneys, attorneys, social
workers, law-enforcement officers, probation officers, and other interested
persons. The community penalties sentencing services board
shall meet on a regular basis, and its duties include, but are not limited to,
the following:
(1) Preparation and submission of the sentencing services program plan to the senior resident superior court judge and the Director annually, as provided in G.S. 7A-772(a);
(1)(1a)
Development of an annual budget for the program;
(2) Hiring, firing, and evaluation of program personnel;
(3) Selection of board members;
(4) Arranging for a
private and independent an annual audit; audit, in
accordance with G.S. 143-6.1;
(5) Development of procedures for contracting for services.
(b) If the board serves as an advisory board to a sentencing services program located in a local or State agency, the board's duties do not include budgeting and personnel decisions.
"§ 7A-776. Limitation on use of funds.
Funds provided for use under the provisions of this Article
shall not be used for the operating costs, construction, or any other costs
associated with local jail confinement. confinement, or for any
purpose other than the operation of a sentencing services program that complies
with this Article.
"§ 7A-777. Evaluation.
The Director shall evaluate each community penalties sentencing
services program on an annual basis to determine the degree to which the prison
commitments have been reduced or have kept from increasing as a result of the
community penalties program. The Director shall not renew or continue a program
that has failed to affect commitments and that shows no promise of doing so in
the future, after allowing for changes in the number of convictions. program
effectively meets the needs of the courts in its judicial district by providing
them with sentencing information. In conducting the evaluation, the
Director shall consider the goals and objectives established in the program's
plan, as well as the extent to which the program is able to ensure that the
offenders served by the plan meet the criteria established in G.S. 7A-773(1)."
Section 2. G.S. 15A-1340.11(6) reads as rewritten:
"(6) Intermediate punishment. - A sentence in a criminal case that places an offender on supervised probation and includes at least one of the following conditions:
a. Special probation as defined in G.S. 15A-1351(a).
b. Assignment to a residential program.
c. House arrest with electronic monitoring.
d. Intensive probation.
e. Assignment to a day-reporting center.
In addition, a sentence to regular
supervised probation imposed pursuant to a community penalties plan as defined
in G.S. 7A-771(2) is an intermediate punishment, regardless of whether any of
the above conditions is imposed, if the plan is accepted by the court and the
plan does not include active punishment."
Section 3. G.S. 15A-1340.14(f) reads as rewritten:
"(f) Proof of Prior Convictions. - A prior conviction shall be proved by any of the following methods:
(1) Stipulation of the parties.
(2) An original or copy of the court record of the prior conviction.
(3) A copy of records maintained by the Division of Criminal Information, the Division of Motor Vehicles, or of the Administrative Office of the Courts.
(4) Any other method found by the court to be reliable.
The State bears the burden of proving, by a preponderance of the evidence, that a prior conviction exists and that the offender before the court is the same person as the offender named in the prior conviction. The original or a copy of the court records or a copy of the records maintained by the Division of Criminal Information, the Division of Motor Vehicles, or of the Administrative Office of the Courts, bearing the same name as that by which the offender is charged, is prima facie evidence that the offender named is the same person as the offender before the court, and that the facts set out in the record are true. For purposes of this subsection, "a copy" includes a paper writing containing a reproduction of a record maintained electronically on a computer or other data processing equipment, and a document produced by a facsimile machine. The prosecutor shall make all feasible efforts to obtain and present to the court the offender's full record. Evidence presented by either party at trial may be utilized to prove prior convictions. Suppression of prior convictions is pursuant to G.S. 15A-980. If a motion is made pursuant to that section during the sentencing stage of the criminal action, the court may grant a continuance of the sentencing hearing. If asked by the defendant in compliance with G.S. 15A-903, the prosecutor shall furnish the defendant's prior criminal record to the defendant within a reasonable time sufficient to allow the defendant to determine if the record available to the prosecutor is accurate. Upon request of a sentencing services program established pursuant to Article 61 of Chapter 7A of the General Statutes, the district attorney shall provide any information the district attorney has about the criminal record of a person for whom the program has been requested to provide a sentencing plan pursuant to G.S. 7A-773.1."
Section 4. Section 2 of this act becomes effective January 1, 2000, and applies to offenses committed on or after that date. The remainder of this act becomes effective January 1, 2000, except that community penalties plans requested for offenders prior to that date shall be governed by the law in effect at the time the plan was requested.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 7th day of July, 1999.
s/ Marc Basnight
President Pro Tempore of the Senate
s/ James B. Black
Speaker of the House of Representatives
s/ James B. Hunt, Jr.
Governor
Approved 9:15 p.m. this 15th day of July, 1999