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North Carolina Criminal Law » The Justice Reinvestment Act: An Overview » Print Page 2 of 3 respectively, before attaining their maximum. (The law does not, however, make any changes to the minimum sentences set out on the front of the sentencing grid.) So, for example, what used to be a 6 to 8 month sentence for a Class H felony will now be a 6 to 17 month sentence. The inmate would be released from prison on the date equal to his maximum sentence less 9 months, less any earned time (so, sometime between 6 and 8 months), to serve 9 months on post - release supervision. If revoked, the inmate would have 9 months to serve. Limits the Post - Release Supervision and Parole Commission's authority to revoke post - release supervision. In much the same way that the law limits a court's authority to revoke probation, it limits the Parole Commission's authority to revoke post - release supervision to supervisees who abscond or commit a new criminal offense, or who are sex offenders. Other supervisees may be returned to prison for only three months at a time, after which they must be released back onto post - release supervision unless they have completed service of the time remaining on their maximum imposed term. Amends the habitual felon law. Under the new law habitualized felonies will be sentenced four classes higher than the principal felony for which the person was convicted, but never higher than Class C. That means a habitualized Class I felony would be sentenced as a Class E felony (which, depending on the defendant's prior record level, might for the first time raise the possibility of a probationary habitual felon sentence) and a habitualized Class H felony would be sentenced as a Class D felony. Any more serious felony would be sentenced as a Class C felony, just as under current law. Adds a new "habitual breaking and entering status offense." The law creates a new habitual 6 &E "status offense" that a prosecutor may, in his or her discretion, charge upon a person's second conviction for a felony 6 &E (defined to include first- and second - degree burglary, breaking out of a dwelling house burglary, breaking or entering buildings generally, breaking or entering a place of worship, or any substantially similar crime from another jurisdiction). If habitualized, that second strike is sentenced as a Class E felony. Makes G.S. 90 -96 probation mandatory for eligible defendants. The law changes the eligibility criteria for discharge and dismissal of certain drug crimes under G.S. 90- 96(a). On the one hand it limits eligibility by excluding defendants with prior felony convictions of any kind. On the other hand it expands eligibility by allowing discharge and dismissal of any felony drug possession crime under G.S. 90- 95(a)(3), regardless of substance or amount. Most significantly, the law then provides that any eligible defendant "shall" (replacing "may ") be placed on probation without entering judgment of guilt. The law makes parallel changes to the expunction provisions set out in G.S. 15A- 145.2. Allows for "Advanced Supervised Release." Certain felons convicted of Class D through Class H offenses will be eligible for early release from a prison term under a new statutory provision entitled "Advanced Supervised Release" or ASR. Regardless of the actual sentence imposed, the offender will have an opportunity to be released from prison upon serving the shortest possible mitigated sentence he or she could have received for the offense (or 80 percent of the imposed minimum if the defendant received a sentence from the mitigated range in the first place). To get released at the ASR date the inmate must complete risk reduction incentives created by DOC, such as treatment, education, and rehabilitation programs (or be unable to complete such incentives by no fault of his own or her own). The law appears to limit eligibility for ASR to defendants approved for risk reduction incentives by the sentencing judge, without objection from the prosecutor. Eliminates the Criminal Justice Partnership Program (CJPP). The law repeals CJPP and replaces it with the centrally- administered Treatment for Effective Community Supervision program. Requires most misdemeanants to serve their sentences in jail. The new law requires that all felony sentences and misdemeanor sentences requiring confinement of more than 180 days be served in DOC. The law retains the rule that sentences of 90 days or less should be to the local jail. The law establishes a new program for misdemeanants other than impaired drivers with sentences that require confinement of 91 to 180 days. Those inmates will be ordered to confinement pursuant to a new "Statewide Misdemeanor Confinement Program" administered by the North Carolina Sheriffs' Association. The Sheriffs' Association will place covered inmates in jails that have volunteered space for the program. The costs of housing and caring for covered misdemeanants will be paid by a statewide fund pursuant to the terms of a contract between DOC and the Sheriffs' Association. Attachment number 1 F -1 Page 48 http: / /sogweb .sog.unc.edu/blogs /ncclaw / ?p= 2628 &print =1 4/24/2012