If you wear a skimpy swimsuit on North Carolina’s Kure Beach, you’re a criminal. If you live in Huntersville and have an unmown lawn with grass above 10 inches, you’re a criminal. If you use a can of Silly String inside Mount Airy’s town limits, you’re a criminal. These are just a sampling of the...
North Carolina suffers from a severe case of overcriminalization. We have more activities and actions classified as a crime, something worthy of public condemnation, than just about any state. In addition, those crimes are scattered far and wide — not only in Chapter 14 of the General Statutes, the “crime” chapter, but throughout an additional...
If North Carolina’s nebulous criminal code isn’t confusing enough, the “elephant” metaphors lawmakers use to describe them are even less enlightening. At a reform-oriented summit hosted Monday, Oct. 21, in Cary by the Cato Institute and the John Locke Foundation, several lawmakers excoriated the state’s criminal code, saying obsolete and duplicate statutes place harsh burdens...
The General Assembly is shuffling and slogging its way toward a simpler criminal code. Senate Bill 584, Criminal Law Reform, is another attempt to clean up North Carolina’s mishmash of criminal laws. Picking through the disarray is proving a slow process for lawmakers. The state is overdue for a criminal code overhaul, experts say, given...
North Carolina’s criminal code is a muddled, archaic monstrosity. The laws that govern criminal behavior are often unclear, encouraging senseless litigation and allowing bad actors to slip through the cracks. Many of these laws predate the American Revolution. And thanks to years of inattention, these laws are scattered throughout thousands of pages of the N.C....
The first step to saving money is to stop wasting it. A full-scale recodification of our criminal laws would empower North Carolina to accomplish exactly that. In December, the N.C. Supreme Court issued its opinion in State v. Rankin, a felony littering case that illustrates how North Carolina’s haphazard collection of criminal laws is a...
State and local governments, occupational licensing boards, and other public agencies will need to dust off their rule books. Legislation requiring all these entities to list the criminal offenses they impose and report them to the General Assembly by Dec. 1 passed the House Wednesday, June 13, and is on its way to Gov. Roy...
Some North Carolina lawmakers are looking to simplify the state’s complex criminal code. The criminal laws are bloated, inconsistent, and redundant, said Steven Walker, general counsel to Lt. Gov. Dan Forest. Walker and several lawmakers introduced House Bill 379, “Recodification Working Group.” The measure would require state agencies, boards, and commissions to sort through and report...
