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New report: Criminal debt in North Carolina is out of control
The severe economic fallout from COVID-19 exposed a growing problem: North Carolinians saddled with unpayable court debt. While Chief Justice Cheri Beasley granted a temporary 90-day reprieve, the problem will remain when the pandemic ends. During this emergency, North Carolina and other states have taken aggressive measures to help the unemployed, prevent utility shutoffs and […]
We must act now to prevent an epidemic in North Carolina’s prisons and jails
What will happen when COVID-19 reaches our local jails and prisons in North Carolina? Without a change to state policy, we fear the worst. Many facilities are already overcrowded and have inadequate living conditions. But with the new coronavirus spreading and multiplying throughout the state, staff shortages, lack of adequate medical care and rapid contagion […]
One in seven NC drivers has had their license suspended. Many of them don’t even know it.
In North Carolina, 1.25 million people – one in seven adults – has a suspended driver license. That alone is a massive public problem. After all, driving is “a virtual necessity for most Americans,” as the U.S. Supreme Court has noted, and there are few communities where a resident can get to work, school, or everyday errands without a car. But what is even more troubling is that many of these people may not know it.