Important Questions for Gov. Josh Stein

Here are some important questions for Gov. Josh Stein to answer today at his press conference in Charlotte.

After taking more time to comment on Iryna Zarutska's murder on the light rail than it took to talk about Jimmy Kimmel, his comment to public safety in North Carolina clearly doesn't matter as much as his liberal virtue signaling. 

Stein, along with Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls, was hand-picked by Radical Roy Cooper to lead the 2020 Task Force For Racial Equity in Criminal Justice (TREC). https://ncdoj.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/TRECReportFinal_12132020.pdf 

Question: Does Stein stand by all recommendations in the report?

For example: 

Recommendation 18 (pg 35) states, "Encourage law enforcement to issue citations in lieu of arrest whenever possible for misdemeanors. For Class III misdemeanors and violations of local ordinances, the process shall be the issuance of citations. Magistrates are encouraged to issue summons in lieu of arrest whenever possible, including for any civilian-initiated charges. Before a local hospital police force can issue a citation for minor assault against a patient who committed the offense while psychotic or otherwise cognitively impaired, a physician must also sign the petition."

Recommendation 68 (pg 81) states, "In 2017, in recognition of the cognitive and the psychosocial differences between children and adults, North Carolina passed legislation raising the age of juvenile court jurisdiction for most 16 and 17-year-olds. Raise the age legislation mandates that any 16 or 17-year-old who is charged with an A-G felony be automatically transferred to the adult system upon a finding of probable cause or indictment. We propose a modification to allow prosecutors to have the discretion to accept pleas in juvenile court for juveniles charged with Class A through G felonies. This would allow 16 and 17-year-olds to remain in the juvenile justice system, where appropriate and with consent of the district attorney.

Recommendations 77 and 79 (pgs. 87-89) state in part, The Task Force should further engage in, and/or collaborate with the General Statutes Commission and other stakeholders to undertake an ongoing review and study of the criminal code and make further recommendations regarding the criminal code to reduce the number of crimes, increase racial equity, and decrease the impact of criminal justice consequences for minor violations of the criminal code. This work should also study the implications of moving traffic offenses from the criminal to the administrative code and of lowering some drug offenses from felony status. (pg. 87)

Finally, Recommendations 111-114 (pgs. 124-126) state North Carolina should end the use of Violent Habitual Felony Status: Efforts need to be undertaken to address future sentencing guidelines, with an eye towards reducing racial disparities. 

"Governor Stein has made clear he falls in line with the modern Democrat Party to fight harder for violent criminals than North Carolina communities. These dangerous policies he personally wrote and published would make our communities less safe and treat convicted felons as a protected class," said NCGOP Communications Director Matt Mercer.