Last week, the North Carolina Supreme Court issued two important decisions concerning the way our state imposes prison time on people who committed crimes when they were children.
In State v. Kelliher and State v. Conner, the Court reiterated that … Continue Reading →
Late last week, Gov. Roy Cooper announced he would commute the sentences of April Barber, Joshua McKay, and Anthony Willis — three individuals who were sentenced to long terms in prison for crimes they committed when they were teenagers.
This … Continue Reading →
By Ben Finholt and Jamie Lau
On April 8, 2021, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper signed Executive Order 208, establishing the Juvenile Sentence Review Board. This board is a new mechanism for executive clemency, which has been described as “provid[ing] … Continue Reading →
By Carmyn Brown
Recently, North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Newby announced a Task Force to address and study ACEs. ACEs are short for Adverse Childhood Experiences which suggests that childhood trauma and stress can lead to major illness, … Continue Reading →
By Ben Finholt
Last year, Brandon Garrett, Karima Modjadidi, Kristen Renberg, and I published a paper on juvenile life without parole (JLWOP) in North Carolina in The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology at Northwestern Law. We examined the cases … Continue Reading →
By Ruthie Kesri
Gov. Roy Cooper recently announced the creation of a four-person advisory board to review the prison sentences of juveniles.
“Developments in science continue to show fundamental differences between juvenile and adult minds,” Cooper said in a press … Continue Reading →
By Annie Han
“The 6-year-old dangled his legs above the floor as he sat at the table with his defense attorney,” said Virginia Bridges of the Durham Herald Sun. In March 2021, an article by Bridges described the case of … Continue Reading →